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2005 Terrorism News History Archives


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2005 Terrorism Archive:

20051231

US - International - Iraq - Secret- GOV- Terrorism - Intelligence - Telecommunications - E-Mail - Privacy - Politics - Media - Enforcement - "US investigates leak of spy program: Prosecutors focus on disclosure to New York Times." ... "The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said yesterday." ... "Justice Department prosecutors will focus on whether classified information about the program was unlawfully disclosed to The New York Times, which reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of people in the United States without court-approved warrants, officials said." ... "The case is the latest in a series of clashes between the media and the Bush administration, which has aggressively enforced restrictions on classified information and has frequently complained about media disclosures related to terrorism or the war in Iraq." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost via -BostonGlobe

20051230

Pakistan - Religious- Schools - Politics - Terrorism - London bombings - UK - "Pakistan's Islamic schools resist expulsion order: · Ban on foreign students followed London bombs · Leaders claim Musharraf ruling is discriminatory." ... "Leaders of Pakistan's 13,000 madrasas have vowed to defy a government deadline to expel foreign students by December 31, saying the regulations discriminate against religious schools." ... "President Pervez Musharraf required Pakistan's madrasas to expel about 1,800 foreign students after the July 7 bombings in London highlighted the extremist links of some schools. Three of the London bombers were of Pakistani descent, and the Aldgate bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, attended a Lahore madrasa that has since been linked to Islamist militants." -By Imtiaz Gul -Guardian.co.uk

20051229

People - Government - Military - Terrorism - Civil Liberties - Politics - Illinois - Florida - Virginia - "U.S. Defends Conduct in Padilla Case: Supreme Court Asked To Overrule 4th Circuit." ... "A federal appeals court infringed on President Bush's authority to run the war on terror when it refused to let prosecutors take custody of "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, the Justice Department said yesterday, as it urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene." ... "The sharply worded Justice Department filing was the latest salvo in an increasingly contentious battle over Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested in Chicago [Illinois] in 2002 and initially accused of plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty bomb." Padilla was held for more than three years by the military before he was indicted last month in Miami [Florida] on separate criminal terrorism charges." ... "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit refused last week to allow prosecutors to take custody of Padilla from the military and rebuked the Bush administration for its handling of the high-profile case. The Bush administration took strong issue yesterday with the Richmond-based [Virginia] court's decision and appealed it to the Supreme Court." -By Jerry Markon-WashingtonPost

20051228

Terrorism - Business - Politics - "Sept. 11 loan recipients weren't hurt by attacks." ... "Most companies interviewed about the government-backed Sept. 11 loans they received have told investigators they weren't hurt by the suicide attacks and didn't know they were getting terrorism assistance, an internal government investigation found." ... "The Small Business Administration's inspector general also reported Wednesday that lenders who doled out billions of dollars in such loans failed — 85% of the time — to document that recipients were actually hurt by the terrorism attacks and therefore eligible for the federal aid." -AP via -USATODAY
Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Florida - Oregon - Ohio - Virginia - "Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts." ... "Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda." ... "The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out." ... "The expected legal challenges, in cases from Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia, add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom victories in terror cases, legal analysts say." -By Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2) -NYTimes

20051226

Iraq - Terrorism - Police - Politics - "Gunmen kill Iraqi forces, bombs shake Baghdad." ... "Guerrillas killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad on Monday, while the capital itself was rocked by five major explosions that left at least eight dead." ... "It was one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since the largely peaceful election on December 15, when rival ethnic and sectarian groups took part in a vote for a new parliament. By nightfall, at least 20 were killed and over 40 injured." -By Deepa Babington with contributions by Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba, Aseel Kami and Gideon Long -Reuters.co.uk

20051224

Government - Terrorism - Law Enforcement - Law - Telecommunications - Business - Internet - Privacy - Politics - "Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report." ... "The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials." ... "The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said." ... "As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said." ... "The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials familiar with the program." -By Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2) -NYTimes

20051223

Secret- Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Law - Privacy - History- Samuel Alito - "In 1984 memo, Alito defends domestic wiretaps." ... "As a Reagan administration lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito argued that federal officials can't be sued for damages for wiretapping Americans without warrants in national security cases, a document released Friday showed." ... "Alito's position may complicate his prospects for confirmation because its disclosure comes amid an uproar over a four-year-old Bush administration counterterrorism operation that's been eavesdropping on Americans without court approval." ... "President Bush's argument that he has the legal and constitutional authority to direct the National Security Agency to conduct the secret domestic surveillance operation is almost certain to end up before the Supreme Court." -By Jonathan S. Landay -Knight Ridder via -MercuryNews
Travel - Terrorism - Law Enforcement - "Airport security changes create little noise: Guidelines that now allow small scissors, sharp objects have little effect on travelers." ... "New airport security guidelines that allow passengers to carry small scissors and other sharp objects were implemented Thursday at airports nationwide, including Houston." ... "Security personnel will now focus on detecting explosives rather than confiscating small sharp objects." -By Armando Villafranca -HoustonChronicle.com
Government - Military - Terrorism - Civil Liberties - Politics - Florida- "Terror case challenges White House strategy: An appeals court refused the government's request to have Jose Padilla transferred to Florida for a criminal trial." ... "Suddenly, terror suspect Jose Padilla seems a lot more dangerous to the Bush administration." ... "It has nothing to do with his suspected involvement in Al Qaeda bomb plots, analysts say. Rather, the administration worries that the US Supreme Court might agree to hear Mr. Padilla's case and decide one of the most pressing constitutional issues in the war on terrorism. And by all appearances, government lawyers think they might lose." ... "The issue: Does President Bush have the power as commander in chief to order the open-ended military detention of US citizens that he deems enemy combatants?" -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor

20051222

Government - Law - Military - Terrorism - Alaska- Oil - Environment- Health - Education - Jobs - Money - "Senate Extends Patriot Act, Kills Alaska Drilling (Update1)." ... "The U.S. Senate broke a legislative logjam and cleared the way for its holiday departure last night with a series of short-term compromises that extended the Patriot Act and blocked drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." ... "Democrats prevailed in getting Senate Republican leaders to abandon the oil-drilling plan, which was attached to the defense budget." ... "[House] Lawmakers passed a $142.5 billion budget for health, education and jobs programs that cuts funding from last year's spending plan, sending the measure to Bush for his signature. The House approved the measure 215-213 on Dec. 14." ... "The health budget reduces funding for the No Child Left Behind education initiative, special education and job training. It freezes funding for the National Institutes of Health and low- income heating assistance." -By Catherine Dodge -Bloomberg
Secret- Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Telecommunications - EMail - Privacy - Politics - "Judges on Surveillance Court To Be Briefed on Spy Program." ... "The presiding judge of a secret court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases is arranging a classified briefing for her fellow judges to address their concerns about the legality of President Bush's domestic spying program, according to several intelligence and government sources." ... "Several members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said in interviews that they want to know why the administration believed secretly listening in on telephone calls and reading e-mails of U.S. citizens without court authorization was legal. Some of the judges said they are particularly concerned that information gleaned from the president's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to gain authorized wiretaps from their court." (1, 2) -By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer with contributions by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
US - Arizona - Mexico - Drugs - Terrorism - Law - Intelligence - "Surprise - terror war aids drug war: One Arizona border unit sees marijuana haul triple." ... "As Congress and President Bush wrangle over the USA Patriot Act, the Border Security bill, and other tools of the war on terror, they may want to keep another law-enforcement group in mind - the nation's drug-fighters." ... "That's because the war on terror is proving to be a boon to the war on drugs. Drug seizures are up all along the US-Mexico border. Nowhere is the trend clearer than along a desolate 118-mile patch of Arizona desert across the border from the Mexican state of Sonora." ... "In what is rapidly becoming one of the highest drug-trafficking and people- smuggling sectors along the border, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers there have seized 13,000 pounds of marijuana since Oct. 1, triple the amount captured in the same period last year. That year, fiscal 2005, also set a record. The reasons for the success? Better intelligence-sharing, increased manpower, and improved technology that border officials have received in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks." -By Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
Government - Military - Terrorism - Civil Liberties - Politics - Florida - "Court Bars Transfer of Padilla To Face New Terrorism Charges." ... "A federal appeals court yesterday refused to authorize the transfer of "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla to face new criminal charges, issuing a strongly worded opinion rebuking the Bush administration and its handling of the high-profile terrorism case." ... "In issuing its denial, the court cited the government's changing rationale for Padilla's detention, questioning why it used one set of arguments before federal judges deciding whether it was legal for the military to hold Padilla and another set before the Miami [Florida] grand jury." ... "In requesting the transfer to Justice Department custody, the government suggested that the 4th Circuit vacate its ruling allowing Padilla to be held as an enemy combatant. But the 4th Circuit yesterday also refused to lift the earlier decision and suggested that the Justice Department request was made to avoid further judicial scrutiny." ... "The judges said prosecutors had left "an appearance that the government may be attempting to avoid consideration of our decision by the Supreme Court." They said they welcomed Supreme Court intervention because of the "enormous implications" of the Padilla case." -By Jerry Markon -WashingtonPost

20051220

Government - Military - Intelligence - Total Information Awareness - Secrecy - Consumer - Telecommunications -Databases - Privacy - Law -West-Virginia - Dick Cheney - Terrorism - "Bush, Democrats swap charges over his approval of wiretaps." ... "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, released a letter he wrote to Vice President Dick Cheney on July 17, 2003, the day he learned of the surveillance in a meeting with Cheney, three other lawmakers and the heads of the CIA and NSA. Rockefeller expressed deep misgivings and said the program reminded him of Total Information Awareness, a controversial Pentagon effort to mine credit-card data, cellphone calls and even bank withdrawals to spot terrorist activity." ... ""These concerns were never addressed, and I was prohibited from sharing my views with my colleagues" by secrecy laws, Rockefeller said Monday. He accused the president and his aides of "repeatedly misrepresenting the facts" in recent days and demanded a "full investigation into the legal and operational aspects of the program" now that the program has come to light." -By Todd J. Gillman -DallasNews.com via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Environment- Animals - Terrorism - Civil Righs - Law - Politics - Indiana - "F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show." ... "Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show." ... "But the documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful protest." ... "One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis [Indiana] planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic ideology." A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals." (1, 2) -By Eric Lichtblau -NYTimes

20051219

Secret - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Civil Liberties - Privacy - Law - "Bush strongly defends eavesdropping program." ... "President Bush on Monday forcefully defended his administration's eavesdropping program for terror suspects living in the United States as an essential element of protecting Americans from a new enemy, and he said whoever unmasked the secret plan had committed a "shameful act."" ... "As Republicans joined Democrats in calling for a congressional inquiry into the domestic spying program, the president insisted he had the legal and constitutional authority to order surveillance. He said he was concerned about citizens' civil liberties but denied suggestions that he had abused the power of the presidency, and he vowed not to abandon the plan he approved after the 2001 terror attacks." ... ""To say `unchecked power' basically is ascribing some kind of dictatorial position to the president, which I strongly reject," Bush said. "I am doing what you expect me to do, and at the same time, safeguarding the civil liberties of the country."" -ChicagoTribune via -MercuryNews

20051218

Secret - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Privacy - Law- Wisconsin - "Bush, under fire, defends spy program: President says eavesdropping policy is 'vital'." ... "President Bush acknowledged yesterday that he has repeatedly authorized secret eavesdropping within the United States without obtaining warrants, a policy that some critics called illegal. The admission came one day after the president refused to address the issue." ... "Bush yesterday said he reauthorized the program more than 30 times since the Sept. 11 attacks and vowed to continue it despite criticism by some members of both political parties." ... "But Senator Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, urged the president to suspend the program immediately. Feingold said the program violates a law that requires a court order for such surveillance." -By Michael Kranish -Boston/Globe

20051217

Secret - Government - Terrorism - Privacy - Politics - Civil Liberties - Law - "Update 3: Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping." ... "President Bush said Saturday he has no intention of stopping his personal authorizations of a post-Sept. 11 secret eavesdropping program in the U.S., lashing out at those involved in revealing it while defending it as crucial to preventing future attacks." ... "Angry members of Congress have demanded an explanation of the program, first revealed in Friday's New York Times and whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency without obtaining warrants from a court violates civil liberties." -AP via -Forbes

20051216

Iraq - US - Intelligence - "Official: Al-Zarqawi Caught, Freed." ... "Iraqi security forces caught terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the Fallujah area last year but released him because they didn't realize who he was, the deputy interior minister said in an interview broadcast Friday." ... "CNN broadcast a similar report late Thursday, but it could not be confirmed. But a U.S. official said in Washington that American intelligence believed it was plausible." -AP via-CBSNews
Secret - Government - Military - Terrorism - EMail - Telecommunications - Law - Politics - History - "Bush Authorized Domestic Spying: Post-9/11 Order Bypassed Special Court." ... "President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States, despite previous legal prohibitions against such domestic spying, sources with knowledge of the program said last night." ... "For more than four years, the NSA tasked other military intelligence agencies to assist its broad-based surveillance effort directed at people inside the country suspected of having terrorist connections, even before Bush signed the 2002 order that authorized the NSA program, according to an informed U.S. official." ... "The effort, which began within days after the attacks, has consisted partly of monitoring domestic telephone conversations, e-mail and even fax communications of individuals identified by the NSA as having some connection to al Qaeda events or figures, or to potential terrorism-related activities in the United States, the official said." ... "It has also involved teams of Defense Intelligence Agency personnel stationed in major U.S. cities conducting the type of surveillance typically performed by the FBI: monitoring the movements and activities -- through high-tech equipment -- of individuals and vehicles, the official said." -By Dan Eggen with contributions by Dafna Linzer and Peter Baker -WashingtonPost
Government - Terrorism- Law - Civil Liberties - Wisconsin - Idaho - "Senate may decide fate of Patriot Act's expiring provisions." ... "The Senate was still weighing a proposed accord with the House to extend the expiring 16 provisions of the law enacted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. But that compromise appeared to lack the necessary votes to succeed." ... "The White House and its congressional allies prefer to let the provisions expire and hold Democrats responsible in next year's midterm elections rather than let opponents whittle away at the law." ... "But the critics, who include senators with such wide-ranging views as Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Republican Larry Craig of Idaho, say they don't want the Patriot Act to expire — they just want enough time to improve the bill to the point where it doesn't infringe on American liberties." -USATODAY
US - World - Government - Secret - Telecommunications - Intelligence - Privacy - Terrorism - Law - "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts." ... "Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials." ... "Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications." ... "The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the country without court approval was a major shift in American intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By James Risen and Eric Lichtblau with contributions by Barclay Walsh -NYTimes

20051215

Lebanon - Syria - Political - Intelligence- Terrorism - "UN extends Lebanon murder probe, chastises Syria." ... "The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend for six months the international probe into the murder of a Lebanese leader and told Syria it was not co-operating fully with investigators." ... "The resolution also authorises the U.N. commission to provide technical assistance to the Beirut government investigating a string of other politically motivated murders or attempted killings in the last year." ... "Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who headed the U.N. inquiry, on Monday released a 25-page report saying new evidence had reinforced his earlier judgement that Syrian intelligence officials and their Lebanese allies, were involved in the killing." -By Evelyn Leopold -Reuters
Government - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Prisons - Law - Arizona - "Bush backs down on proposed torture ban." ... "President Bush on Thursday abandoned his opposition to an anti-torture amendment by Sen. John McCain in the face of overwhelming support for the measure in Congress." ... "Bush backed down from a veto threat after being unable to muster support from one-third of either the House or Senate, even though his own Republican Party controls both chambers. The measure by McCain, R-Ariz., is attached to the annual defense spending bill that funds the war on terrorism." ... "The amendment says no one in U.S. government custody, whether prisoner of war or terrorist," shall be subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," regardless of where the prisoner is being held." -By John Diamond with contributions by David Jackson -USATODAY

20051214

Privacy - Law - Terrorism - "An 11th-hour drive to amend Patriot Act: Congress is set to vote Friday on extending parts of the law, but some say privacy needs protecting." ... "An unusual coalition of lawmakers and activists opposed to parts of the USA Patriot Act is mounting a last push to persuade Congress to take more time before voting to extend some of the law's most controversial provisions." ... "At issue is whether Congress has been rigorous enough in assessing how the Patriot Act - which the White House calls vital to its war on terror - has been implemented. Many lawmakers were stunned by recent press reports, denied but not corrected by the Justice Department, that the FBI has issued as many as 30,000 "national security letters" since the law was passed nearly unanimously in 2001. The letters order private and public entities to turn over records and other private data about Americans - and remain silent about it." -By Gail Russell Chaddock -CSMonitor

20051212

France - Terrorism - Intelligence - "French target 'Islamic network': Police investigating suspected plans for attacks in France have arrested at least 20 people during raids in and around Paris." ... "They described the arrests as a "major operation aimed at disbanding an Islamist network linked to terrorism"." ... "Agents of the domestic intelligence service, the DST, raided homes around Paris before dawn." -BBC /News
Iran - Religious - Nuclear - Military - Terrorism - Politics - "Iran's not-so-secret hatred." ... "Since taking office, Ahmadinejad has pushed Iran further into hatred, intolerance and theocratic tyranny--quite a feat in a repressive country that funds terrorists around the world. He has sacked many of the pragmatists in the government and replaced them with hard-liners. There are signs that even the despotic mullahs who run the country are getting nervous. They reportedly moved recently to strip him of some of his power." ... "If only the threat from Iran were limited to fierce rhetoric." ... "Just a few days ago, Mohamed ElBaradei, the ultra-cautious head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, hinted that Iran could be a lot closer to developing a bomb than was thought previously. He said the international community is "losing patience" with Iran. Robert Joseph, a top State Department official, said Friday that Iran is "very aggressive, very determined to develop nuclear weapons."" -ChicagoTribune
UN - Lebanon - Syria - Terrorism - "Update 7: U.N.: Evidence Solidifies Hariri Report." ... "New evidence has reinforced investigators' belief that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, a U.N. probe said Monday." ... "The report said Syria was moving at a "slow pace" in meeting council demands for cooperation. The document also cited evidence that Syrian authorities had arrested and threatened relatives of one witness, Husam Taher Husam, shortly before he recanted testimony that was central to the original findings, spelled out in an October report." ... ""Preliminary investigation leads to the conclusion that Mr. Husam is being manipulated by the Syrian authorities," the report said." -AP via -Forbes
UN - Syria - Lebanon- Terrorism - "Hariri Murder Coordinated by Spy Services, UN Says (Update2)." ... "New witnesses confirmed that Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services plotted the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the German prosecutor investigating the crime said, and he urged the Syrian government to cooperate more fully with his probe." ... "Investigator Detlev Mehlis cited additional information that ``points directly at perpetrators, sponsors and organizers of an organized operation aiming at killing Mr. Hariri, including the recruitment of special agents by the Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services, handling of improvised explosive devices, a pattern of threats against targeted individuals and planning of other criminal activities.''" ... "Syria, led by President Bashar al-Assad, has denied any involvement in the truck-bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on Feb. 14 in Beirut." -By Bill Varner -Bloomberg
Lebanon - Syria - France - UN - Media - Police - "Anti-Syrian legislator killed by Beirut car bomb." ... "A car bomb killed Lebanese newspaper magnate and anti-Syrian legislator Gebran Tueni in Beirut on Monday, less than 24 hours after he returned from Paris [France] where he lived for several months fearing assassination." ... "Several politicians blamed Syria and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he would ask the U.N. Security Council to investigate a series of attacks that have rocked Lebanon since the February 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri." ... "Syria denies any role in the attacks and said the latest killing was timed to smear it." ... "Police said Tueni, publisher of the An-Nahar daily newspaper, was among four people killed in the explosion that destroyed his armoured vehicle in the Mekalis area of mainly Christian east Beirut. More than 30 people were wounded." (1, 2, 3) -By Nadim Ladki and Lin Noueihed with contributions by Alaa Shahine and Ayat Basma -Reuters

20051208

US - Iraq - Politics- Police - "Bus bombing kills 30 in Baghdad: A suicide attacker has detonated a bomb on a bus in Baghdad, killing at least 30 people, Iraqi police said." ... "The vehicle was leaving al-Nahda bus station heading south for the Shia town of Nasiriya when the attack occurred." ... "Witnesses said the bus was gutted and left in flames by the explosion. Another 25 people are reported injured." ... "Iraq has been bracing for an increase in violence by anti-US insurgents ahead of the election next Thursday for the first full-term post-Saddam parliament." ... "Police believe the attacker waited until the bus was pulling away slowly from the station and jumped on board to avoid security checks." -BBC /News

20051207

US - Iraq - Military - Terrorism- Intelligence- Opinion- Economy - "Poll: Bush's Ratings Bump Up." ... "The President’s overall approval rating has risen from 35 percent in October to 40 percent now, and his ratings on handling the economy and the war in Iraq have also improved." ... "The Bush Administration continues to face criticism from many Democrats and other war opponents about the way pre-war intelligence was handled, and whether there truly was a compelling connection between Iraq and the terror threat to the United States. Fifty-two percent of Americans think the Bush Administration deliberately misled the public in making the case for war, while 44 percent say it did not." ... "An overwhelming majority of Americans think this Congress should be asking questions about pre-war intelligence. Fifty-six percent call it a very important line of questioning, and another 24 percent call it somewhat important." -CBSNews
Florida - Airline - Terrorism - "Man who threatened to blow up bomb killed by federal marshal." ... "As dozens of passengers exited from an American Airlines flight at [Florida's] Miami International Airport this afternoon, one male passenger who threatened to blow up a bomb in the gateway was shot and killed by a federal air marshal, a government official said." ... "The 44-year-old U.S. citizen, whose name was not immediately released, claimed he had the bomb in a carry-on bag and tried to run away from a team of federal air marshals after they ordered him to the ground, according to the Transportation Security Administration." ... "One of the air marshals opened fire as the man reached into the bag." -AP -MercuryNews

20051206

US- Germany - Afghanistan - Secret - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Prisons - Law - Politics - VA - "German citizen held in secret prison sues ex-CIA director." ... "A German citizen whom the CIA abducted from Macedonia and held in a secret prison in Afghanistan for five months sued former CIA Director George Tenet on Tuesday, saying he'd been tortured." ... "[Khaled] Al-Masri's lawsuit, filed by ACLU lawyers in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], sheds light on the CIA's secret practice of "extraordinary renditions," using special teams to capture suspected terrorists and transport them to countries that practice torture or to one of the agency's reported secret prisons in Eastern Europe or Asia." ... "In the four years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA has captured about 3,000 people, including some top al-Qaida leaders, according to a Washington Post report. Intelligence committees in Congress have been told that the CIA's inspector general is investigating possible "erroneous renditions."" ... "U.S. officials refuse to confirm or deny the existence of secret prisons." -By Frank Davies and Warren P. Strobel -MercuryNews
Florida - Terrorism - "Ex-professor cleared on some terror charges." ... "In a stinging defeat for prosecutors, a former Florida professor accused of helping lead a terrorist group that has carried out suicide bombings against Israel was acquitted on nearly half the charges against him Tuesday, and the jury deadlocked on the rest." ... "The case against Sami Al-Arian, 47, had been seen as one of the biggest courtroom tests yet of the Patriot Act's expanded search-and-surveillance powers." ... "Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer engineering professor, wept after the verdicts, and his attorney, Linda Moreno hugged him. He will return to jail until prosecutors decide whether to retry him on the deadlocked charges." ... "Two co-defendants, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, were acquitted of all charges. A third, Hatem Naji Fariz, was found not guilty on 24 counts, and jurors deadlocked on the remaining eight." -By Mitch Stacy -MercuryNews
Iraq - Police - Military - "Baghdad Bombers Kill at Least 27 at Police Academy (Update2)." ... "At least 27 Iraqi police officers and students died and 50 were hurt when two suicide bombers attacked a police academy in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said." ... "Earlier reports that the bombers were women and walked into a classroom were ``erroneous,'' according to the statement." ... "The attack was the deadliest against Iraqi forces since Feb. 28, when a suicide car bomber struck police and Iraqi National Guard recruits in Hillah, a mostly Shiite Muslim city 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Baghdad, killing 125." -By Caroline Alexander -Bloomberg
Spain - "