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Friday, October 07, 2005
How a bad U.S. visit influenced �Osama�s brain� - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com
How a bad U.S. visit influenced �Osama�s brain� - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com
Blogger Thought: When are they going to stop obscuring the truth about 9/11?
Tags: bin Laden 09/11/2001 September11 9/11 lies msm
Blogger Thought: When are they going to stop obscuring the truth about 9/11?
Tags: bin Laden 09/11/2001 September11 9/11 lies msm
from Website of Questionable Reliability: CIA, French intelligence kill 4, capture 5 Israelis in NY subway attack
CIA, French intelligence kill 4, capture 5 Israelis in NY subway attack: "U.S. intelligence expert Thomas Heneghen"
Blogger Thought: If Heneghen wants to be believed, he needs a better track record. If this report finds any confirmation, I'll withdraw my skeptical treatment.
CIA, French intelligence kill 4, capture 5 Israelis in NY subway attack
U.S. media and NY officials called the incident a "significant threat"
by Tom FloccoNew York City-October 6, 2005-TomFlocco.com-Earlier this evening intelligence members of the American-French Alliance stopped an attempt by Israeli Mossad operatives to blow up the New York City subway, according to national security and U.S. intelligence expert Thomas Heneghen.The federal whistleblower said four Israelis were killed in the altercation and five more were captured just minutes after virtually all U.S. cable news channels, network TV outlets and New York Mayor Richard Bloomberg were reporting their own version of the incident, adding that New York City was "facing a significant threat" in the city's subway.Heneghen said CNN had the information but host Anderson Cooper refused or was ordered not to report the real story to the American people.Adding to the Bush administration's problems and following on the heels of the August 2, 2005 Bush-Cheney indictment story on TomFlocco.com, cable news channels are now reporting that indictments against White House officials are imminent.Heneghen said his intelligence sources revealed that White House Senior Presidential Advisor has turned State's evidence and "will implicate other members of the White House" in order to cooperate with U.S. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.The intelligence authority said "22 indictments involving both the Bush and Clinton administrations are pending in a grand jury," adding "more indictments will come quickly and in waves.""These grand juries are about to liberate the American people from two political parties who are prepared to literally blow us up in order to keep their power," said Heneghen, adding, "The New York threat is internal, not external. The individuals involved in the New York threat are now in custody of U.S. and French intelligence-and they were identified as Israeli Mossad."The whistleblower said "Tonight the AFA claimed a victory against the Mossad in the U.S. It was almost like the movement of armies on a battlefield."Heneghen also reported that "those involved in the JFK Jr. murder are now being investigated by another grand jury in New Jersey, confirming our August 31, 2005 story Division 4 names Clintons, Bush 41, 43 in JFK Jr. assassination which was also covered up by mainstream media despite a leaked intelligence preliminary investigative report calling President Kennedy's son's death "a political assassination of the first order."The leaked document originally at StewWebb.com, was ignored by the media for months and is also linked in our "Who killed John-John?" story.Webb, a long-time federal whistleblower, said "Patrick Fitzgerald is a man of great integrity and patriotism, having faced intimidation and death threats by Russian assassins operating in the U.S.A. who have already been identified in grand jury testimony as the individuals who murdered the husband and mother of Chicago's U.S. District Judge Joan H. Lefkow.Lefkow was involved in Fitzgerald's White House grand jury proceedings at the time.Supreme Court nominee subject of grand jury investigationWhile President Bush and congressional republicans hope to have Supreme Court Justice nominee Harriet Miers confirmed by the Senate before Thanksgiving, Heneghen said President Bush's White House counsel and former personal attorney is being probed by another grand jury.According to Heneghen, Miers is reportedly being investigated for "obstruction of justice regarding the shredding of documents linked to President Bush's National Guard service record," evidence that "Bush was absent without leave" from his Air Force unit and that he had been placed in "cocaine rehabilitation," all of which Miers allegedly helped cover up.It is not known at this time whether Democrats will press Miers with tough questioning regarding her role in the cover-up during Senate confirmation hearings this month, given Heneghen's revelations.The national security authority said "records are still in the possession of Miss Miers," and that the Supreme Court nominee is "directly linked to the president's National Guard scandal."In another explosive allegation, the whistleblower alleged that "Harriet Miers is an Israeli agent placed in the White House to shake down President Bushâ¤[She is] an informant [of a foreign government] who is operating in the White House and is now ready to move onto the Supreme Court."Hidden newsStew Webb reported that another grand jury is looking at evidence regarding CIA and Defense Intelligence officials who video-taped Florida Governor Jeb Bush on a military C-130 cargo plane which witnesses said was full of boxes containing Bush-Gore 2000 voter ballots which flew out over the Atlantic ocean.When the plane returned to the Fort Lauderdale airport, it was found to be empty. This, while the 2000 election presidential votes were still being counted.During their broadcast of the Heneghen-Webb U.S. Intel/AFA News Hour, Webb added that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has reportedly been overseeing the weekly shipments of tens of millions of illegally printed U.S. currency to Russia which is then laundered back into the United States to purchase U.S. Treasury Notes.The illegal operation is artificially propping up the U.S. economy; however, the news may affect U.S. markets immediately, particularly the price of gold.Greenspan was allegedly involved with former President George H. W. Bush and Colonel Oliver North in attempting to force Colonel Russell Herman to sign over his control over multiple CIA bank accounts just two days before his torture and murder, according to his wife, Mrs. V. K. Durham.Durham has fully chronicled the illegal use of her family trust by the Clinton Bush administrations on www.theantechamber.net.Webb said the Russian mafia is still using a regularly scheduled Wednesday evening Delta Airlines flight to Russia to transport the currency, printed illegally using stolen Federal Reserve plates.Heneghen added that [former U.S. National Security Advisor] "Sandy Berger was arrested last night for driving recklessly at 83 miles-per-hour; but the "police are covering up the fact that he was drunk."Berger is reportedly involved in stealing the United States nuclear codes and passing them to the Israelis, which in turn compromised American national security and safety by selling them to the Chinese government, according to Heneghen.The former Clinton administration official is not being charged with treason, since President Bush and current National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice reportedly permitted Berger to gain access to the storage archives.Heneghen also said "the Philippine indictments issued today by the Justice Department had nothing to do with the accused former official in the White House," adding that was just a cover for the boxes of cash coming out of the Philippines after the 9-11 attacks."The two also alleged that former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has been implicated in the use of credit cards issued to members of the Brooklyn terrorist cell for in activities against the United States government."Our whole system of government has been destroyed and corrupted," said Heneghen, adding, "this force of occupation must be smashed and eliminated."The national security expert said "the French are returning the favor, since Americans stormed the Omaha beaches to liberate the French from the Nazi occupation during World War II, and now, at this very minute, they're holding Israeli Mossad agents who just tried to blow up our New York subway."Webb told TomFlocco.com, "They've been helping America for 200 yearsâ¤the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and now the Al Qaeda terrorist cell at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
Blogger Thought: If Heneghen wants to be believed, he needs a better track record. If this report finds any confirmation, I'll withdraw my skeptical treatment.
CIA, French intelligence kill 4, capture 5 Israelis in NY subway attack
U.S. media and NY officials called the incident a "significant threat"
by Tom FloccoNew York City-October 6, 2005-TomFlocco.com-Earlier this evening intelligence members of the American-French Alliance stopped an attempt by Israeli Mossad operatives to blow up the New York City subway, according to national security and U.S. intelligence expert Thomas Heneghen.The federal whistleblower said four Israelis were killed in the altercation and five more were captured just minutes after virtually all U.S. cable news channels, network TV outlets and New York Mayor Richard Bloomberg were reporting their own version of the incident, adding that New York City was "facing a significant threat" in the city's subway.Heneghen said CNN had the information but host Anderson Cooper refused or was ordered not to report the real story to the American people.Adding to the Bush administration's problems and following on the heels of the August 2, 2005 Bush-Cheney indictment story on TomFlocco.com, cable news channels are now reporting that indictments against White House officials are imminent.Heneghen said his intelligence sources revealed that White House Senior Presidential Advisor has turned State's evidence and "will implicate other members of the White House" in order to cooperate with U.S. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.The intelligence authority said "22 indictments involving both the Bush and Clinton administrations are pending in a grand jury," adding "more indictments will come quickly and in waves.""These grand juries are about to liberate the American people from two political parties who are prepared to literally blow us up in order to keep their power," said Heneghen, adding, "The New York threat is internal, not external. The individuals involved in the New York threat are now in custody of U.S. and French intelligence-and they were identified as Israeli Mossad."The whistleblower said "Tonight the AFA claimed a victory against the Mossad in the U.S. It was almost like the movement of armies on a battlefield."Heneghen also reported that "those involved in the JFK Jr. murder are now being investigated by another grand jury in New Jersey, confirming our August 31, 2005 story Division 4 names Clintons, Bush 41, 43 in JFK Jr. assassination which was also covered up by mainstream media despite a leaked intelligence preliminary investigative report calling President Kennedy's son's death "a political assassination of the first order."The leaked document originally at StewWebb.com, was ignored by the media for months and is also linked in our "Who killed John-John?" story.Webb, a long-time federal whistleblower, said "Patrick Fitzgerald is a man of great integrity and patriotism, having faced intimidation and death threats by Russian assassins operating in the U.S.A. who have already been identified in grand jury testimony as the individuals who murdered the husband and mother of Chicago's U.S. District Judge Joan H. Lefkow.Lefkow was involved in Fitzgerald's White House grand jury proceedings at the time.Supreme Court nominee subject of grand jury investigationWhile President Bush and congressional republicans hope to have Supreme Court Justice nominee Harriet Miers confirmed by the Senate before Thanksgiving, Heneghen said President Bush's White House counsel and former personal attorney is being probed by another grand jury.According to Heneghen, Miers is reportedly being investigated for "obstruction of justice regarding the shredding of documents linked to President Bush's National Guard service record," evidence that "Bush was absent without leave" from his Air Force unit and that he had been placed in "cocaine rehabilitation," all of which Miers allegedly helped cover up.It is not known at this time whether Democrats will press Miers with tough questioning regarding her role in the cover-up during Senate confirmation hearings this month, given Heneghen's revelations.The national security authority said "records are still in the possession of Miss Miers," and that the Supreme Court nominee is "directly linked to the president's National Guard scandal."In another explosive allegation, the whistleblower alleged that "Harriet Miers is an Israeli agent placed in the White House to shake down President Bushâ¤[She is] an informant [of a foreign government] who is operating in the White House and is now ready to move onto the Supreme Court."Hidden newsStew Webb reported that another grand jury is looking at evidence regarding CIA and Defense Intelligence officials who video-taped Florida Governor Jeb Bush on a military C-130 cargo plane which witnesses said was full of boxes containing Bush-Gore 2000 voter ballots which flew out over the Atlantic ocean.When the plane returned to the Fort Lauderdale airport, it was found to be empty. This, while the 2000 election presidential votes were still being counted.During their broadcast of the Heneghen-Webb U.S. Intel/AFA News Hour, Webb added that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has reportedly been overseeing the weekly shipments of tens of millions of illegally printed U.S. currency to Russia which is then laundered back into the United States to purchase U.S. Treasury Notes.The illegal operation is artificially propping up the U.S. economy; however, the news may affect U.S. markets immediately, particularly the price of gold.Greenspan was allegedly involved with former President George H. W. Bush and Colonel Oliver North in attempting to force Colonel Russell Herman to sign over his control over multiple CIA bank accounts just two days before his torture and murder, according to his wife, Mrs. V. K. Durham.Durham has fully chronicled the illegal use of her family trust by the Clinton Bush administrations on www.theantechamber.net.Webb said the Russian mafia is still using a regularly scheduled Wednesday evening Delta Airlines flight to Russia to transport the currency, printed illegally using stolen Federal Reserve plates.Heneghen added that [former U.S. National Security Advisor] "Sandy Berger was arrested last night for driving recklessly at 83 miles-per-hour; but the "police are covering up the fact that he was drunk."Berger is reportedly involved in stealing the United States nuclear codes and passing them to the Israelis, which in turn compromised American national security and safety by selling them to the Chinese government, according to Heneghen.The former Clinton administration official is not being charged with treason, since President Bush and current National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice reportedly permitted Berger to gain access to the storage archives.Heneghen also said "the Philippine indictments issued today by the Justice Department had nothing to do with the accused former official in the White House," adding that was just a cover for the boxes of cash coming out of the Philippines after the 9-11 attacks."The two also alleged that former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has been implicated in the use of credit cards issued to members of the Brooklyn terrorist cell for in activities against the United States government."Our whole system of government has been destroyed and corrupted," said Heneghen, adding, "this force of occupation must be smashed and eliminated."The national security expert said "the French are returning the favor, since Americans stormed the Omaha beaches to liberate the French from the Nazi occupation during World War II, and now, at this very minute, they're holding Israeli Mossad agents who just tried to blow up our New York subway."Webb told TomFlocco.com, "They've been helping America for 200 yearsâ¤the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and now the Al Qaeda terrorist cell at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
E. J. Dionne (WashPO) keeps the heat on...
Faith-Based Hypocrisy
Blogger Thoughts: Perhaps the fundamental thing that citizens should understand about the so-called MSM is that it controls not by excluding completely viewpoints opposed to the ruling Junta. Rather, the control is though refusing to allow a coalescence of commentary that would document the truth of the conspiracies.
Blogger Thoughts: Perhaps the fundamental thing that citizens should understand about the so-called MSM is that it controls not by excluding completely viewpoints opposed to the ruling Junta. Rather, the control is though refusing to allow a coalescence of commentary that would document the truth of the conspiracies.
Joe's Dartblog: Katrina Pushes Unemployment to 5.1%
Joe's Dartblog: Katrina Pushes Unemployment to 5.1%
Blogger Thoughts: Does Joe, even for a moment, think about the current corruption, the unparalleled govt. deficit, and the intractable problems with the underclass, which are part of the general polarization of income overall in the US?
Blogger Thoughts: Does Joe, even for a moment, think about the current corruption, the unparalleled govt. deficit, and the intractable problems with the underclass, which are part of the general polarization of income overall in the US?
Courthouse Color
This is the entrance to the County and Municipal Courthouse, normally teeming with
humanity but empty on a Sunday.
humanity but empty on a Sunday.
Cytations: reform is happening: The Myth of the Islamic Jihad Against the West
Cytations: reform is happening: The Myth of the Islamic Jihad Against the West: "The Myth of the Islamic Jihad Against the West "
Joe's Dartblog: Co-opting the Internet
Joe's Dartblog: Co-opting the Internet: "precisely because it has been left ungoverned."
Blogger Thoughts: Joe, you couldn't be more incorrect about your understanding of the "ungoverned" nature of the internet.
Blogger Thoughts: Joe, you couldn't be more incorrect about your understanding of the "ungoverned" nature of the internet.
President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again - New York Times
President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again - New York Times
October 7, 2005
President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again
Yesterday, the same day New Yorkers were warned there was a "specific threat" of a bombing on their subways, President Bush delivered what the White House promoted as a major address on terrorism. It seemed, on the surface, like a perfect topic for the moment. But his talk was not about the nation's current challenges. He delivered a reprise of his Sept. 11 rhetoric that suggested an avoidance of today's reality that seemed downright frightening.
The period right after 9/11, for all its pain, was the high point of the Bush presidency. Four years ago, we hung on every word when Mr. Bush denounced Al Qaeda and made the emotional - but, as it turned out, empty - vow to track down Osama bin Laden. Yesterday, it seemed as if the president was still trying to live in 2001. It was eerie to hear him urge Americans to take terrorism seriously. There wasn't any reason to worry about that even before subway riders were being told about the threat of a terrorist attack on their commute home.
He seemed to be reading from a very old and familiar script as he revealed that terrorists recruit "disillusioned young men and women," some of whom build weapons based on information available on the Internet. He shared his conviction that "it is cowardice that seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs." He said his team was "reforming our intelligence agency" and reorganizing government for "a broad and coordinated homeland defense."
Americans have seen the Department of Homeland Security in action for several years now, under two directors. The first, a former governor with whom the president had a good personal relationship, was an inept bureaucratic and political player who had a strange obsession with color-coded states of emergency. The current one was at the helm during the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster in New Orleans, when that agency was overseen by an unqualified political appointee.
The administration is still trying to recover politically from Katrina. The hurricane was not just a bad stretch that could be cured by a promise of federal aid and a demonstration of presidential concern. The hurricane showed that despite four years of spinning, America is still unprepared for a catastrophe. It raised major questions about the caliber of people with whom Mr. Bush surrounds himself.
Ever since the terrorist attacks, the main thing Americans have wanted from Washington is a sense of safety. That takes more than hyperalertness to suicide bombing threats, important as that is. No matter what the terrorists are up to, it is not possible to feel safe if the federal government does not appear to know what it is doing on so many different levels.
Yesterday was an ideal moment for Mr. Bush to demonstrate that he was really in control of his administration. He could have taken any one of a number of pressing worries and demonstrated that he was on the job, re-examining the problems, working on answers. For instance, he could have addressed the crisis facing the overstretched military due to the endless demands made by Iraq on both the Army and the beleaguered National Guard.
The speech came one day after the White House threatened to veto a bill onto which the Senate added a ban on the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against prisoners of the American government. This president could not find the spine to veto a bloated transportation bill that included wildly wasteful projects like the now-famous "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska. What kind of priorities does that suggest? If we ever needed the president to demonstrate that he has a working understanding of exactly where he wants to take this country, we need it now.
The president's inability to grow beyond his big moment in 2001 is unnerving. But the fact that his handlers continue to encourage him to milk 9/11 is infuriating. For most of us, the memories are fresh and painful. We mourn the people who died on Sept. 11, as we mourn Daniel Pearl and other Americans, not to mention innocents from other countries, who were murdered by terrorists. The administration's penchant for using them as political cover is offensive. It threatens to turn our wounds, and our current fears, into cynical and desperate spin.
October 7, 2005
President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again
Yesterday, the same day New Yorkers were warned there was a "specific threat" of a bombing on their subways, President Bush delivered what the White House promoted as a major address on terrorism. It seemed, on the surface, like a perfect topic for the moment. But his talk was not about the nation's current challenges. He delivered a reprise of his Sept. 11 rhetoric that suggested an avoidance of today's reality that seemed downright frightening.
The period right after 9/11, for all its pain, was the high point of the Bush presidency. Four years ago, we hung on every word when Mr. Bush denounced Al Qaeda and made the emotional - but, as it turned out, empty - vow to track down Osama bin Laden. Yesterday, it seemed as if the president was still trying to live in 2001. It was eerie to hear him urge Americans to take terrorism seriously. There wasn't any reason to worry about that even before subway riders were being told about the threat of a terrorist attack on their commute home.
He seemed to be reading from a very old and familiar script as he revealed that terrorists recruit "disillusioned young men and women," some of whom build weapons based on information available on the Internet. He shared his conviction that "it is cowardice that seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs." He said his team was "reforming our intelligence agency" and reorganizing government for "a broad and coordinated homeland defense."
Americans have seen the Department of Homeland Security in action for several years now, under two directors. The first, a former governor with whom the president had a good personal relationship, was an inept bureaucratic and political player who had a strange obsession with color-coded states of emergency. The current one was at the helm during the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster in New Orleans, when that agency was overseen by an unqualified political appointee.
The administration is still trying to recover politically from Katrina. The hurricane was not just a bad stretch that could be cured by a promise of federal aid and a demonstration of presidential concern. The hurricane showed that despite four years of spinning, America is still unprepared for a catastrophe. It raised major questions about the caliber of people with whom Mr. Bush surrounds himself.
Ever since the terrorist attacks, the main thing Americans have wanted from Washington is a sense of safety. That takes more than hyperalertness to suicide bombing threats, important as that is. No matter what the terrorists are up to, it is not possible to feel safe if the federal government does not appear to know what it is doing on so many different levels.
Yesterday was an ideal moment for Mr. Bush to demonstrate that he was really in control of his administration. He could have taken any one of a number of pressing worries and demonstrated that he was on the job, re-examining the problems, working on answers. For instance, he could have addressed the crisis facing the overstretched military due to the endless demands made by Iraq on both the Army and the beleaguered National Guard.
The speech came one day after the White House threatened to veto a bill onto which the Senate added a ban on the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against prisoners of the American government. This president could not find the spine to veto a bloated transportation bill that included wildly wasteful projects like the now-famous "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska. What kind of priorities does that suggest? If we ever needed the president to demonstrate that he has a working understanding of exactly where he wants to take this country, we need it now.
The president's inability to grow beyond his big moment in 2001 is unnerving. But the fact that his handlers continue to encourage him to milk 9/11 is infuriating. For most of us, the memories are fresh and painful. We mourn the people who died on Sept. 11, as we mourn Daniel Pearl and other Americans, not to mention innocents from other countries, who were murdered by terrorists. The administration's penchant for using them as political cover is offensive. It threatens to turn our wounds, and our current fears, into cynical and desperate spin.
TCS: Tech Central Station - Why Intelligent Design Is Going to Win
TCS: Tech Central Station - Why Intelligent Design Is Going to Win
Blogger Thought: For crying out loud!
Blogger Thought: For crying out loud!
AIG Says Indicted Employee Is Suspended - New York Times
AIG Says Indicted Employee Is Suspended - New York Times
October 6, 2005
AIG Says Indicted Employee Is Suspended
By REUTERS
Filed at 3:12 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc. (AIG.N) said it has suspended David Pinkerton, an employee indicted on Thursday for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by U.S. authorities in a case related to a $15 million investment.
AIG, the world's largest insurer by market value, said no charges had been brought against the company itself.
Pinkerton, a managing director in the AIG Global Investment Group, is on administrative leave pending resolution of the charges, AIG said.
Pinkerton pleaded not guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
AIG said the charges involved an Azerbaijan privatization program that was brought to Pinkerton's group by Omega Partners Advisors, a New York hedge fund. AIG, as co-investor, contributed about $15 million of a total $180 million invested in 1998.
AIG said no client money was involved.
When AIG discovered in 1999 that it had been defrauded, it sued a person involved in the fraud and has cooperated fully with the investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office, the company said in its press release.
October 6, 2005
AIG Says Indicted Employee Is Suspended
By REUTERS
Filed at 3:12 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc. (AIG.N) said it has suspended David Pinkerton, an employee indicted on Thursday for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by U.S. authorities in a case related to a $15 million investment.
AIG, the world's largest insurer by market value, said no charges had been brought against the company itself.
Pinkerton, a managing director in the AIG Global Investment Group, is on administrative leave pending resolution of the charges, AIG said.
Pinkerton pleaded not guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
AIG said the charges involved an Azerbaijan privatization program that was brought to Pinkerton's group by Omega Partners Advisors, a New York hedge fund. AIG, as co-investor, contributed about $15 million of a total $180 million invested in 1998.
AIG said no client money was involved.
When AIG discovered in 1999 that it had been defrauded, it sued a person involved in the fraud and has cooperated fully with the investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office, the company said in its press release.
Bali Suicide Bombers Said to Have Belonged to Small Gang - New York Times
Bali Suicide Bombers Said to Have Belonged to Small Gang - New York Times: "small group with no prior criminal record or link to a large organization like Al Qaeda,"
October 7, 2005
Bali Suicide Bombers Said to Have Belonged to Small Gang
By RAYMOND BONNER
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 6 - Indonesia's counterterrorism forces say the suspected suicide bombers who carried out the attack in Bali last Saturday appear to have been a small group with no prior criminal record or link to a large organization like Al Qaeda, giving the case echoes of the London subway bombings in July.
A senior Indonesian counterterrorism official said Thursday in an interview that the bombers seemed to have been "jihadists" without previous involvement in terrorist acts that would have brought them to the attention of the authorities.
A former senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, the radical Islamic organization here, who has defected and is helping the government, said he did not recognize any of the men, the official said. The heads of the presumed bombers were severed in the blast, and pictures of them have appeared on television and in newspapers. The official spoke on condition that he not be identified, because he is not the authorized spokesman for his agency.
The Bali attack, which in addition to the 3 bombers killed 19 people, most of them Indonesians, in separate explosions at three restaurants, seems indicative of the way in which terrorism is shifting, terrorism experts say.
It was less sophisticated, complex, costly and deadly than the terrorist operation in Bali three years ago, in which a van loaded with explosives exploded in front of a nightclub, killing 202 people. And the organizations that financed the earlier attack, Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, have been severely weakened.
Yet the terrorist threat remains, while presenting a different challenge from when Al Qaeda provided training, financing and direction.
"Outside of the Middle East and North Africa, this is the first time we have seen suicide bombers walk into a restaurant and blow themselves up à la Israel," said a senior Western official who has closely monitored terrorist groups and activities for the last four years.
"It is only a matter of time before what you saw in Bali on Saturday night happens in a Western country," he said. The official spoke on condition that his name and country not be used, a condition imposed by most individuals of his position with access to intelligence information.
The threads between the London, Madrid and Bali attacks are not organizational, he said: "They are threads of the mind."
The terrorists have a common world view, a shared ideology. There is no evidence of outside direction, he said, and that makes fighting them challenging in a different way. He argued further that small attacks could add up to a devastation equal in some ways to large, catastrophic ones by eating away at people's security and at the economy.
These attacks should be seen less as a change in tactics than "a demonstration of another capability," said a security adviser with experience in the public and private sectors. He declined to be identified, in part for security reasons and because he has close ties to Western law enforcement agencies that would not be as willing to share information with him if they knew he talked to reporters.
In the London bombings it is not clear who may have been behind the bombers. Here, the main suspects as the masterminds are Azhari Husin, a skilled bomb-maker, and Mohamad Noordin Top, a charismatic recruiter and fund-raiser, who are thought to be operating on their own.
In that sense, their personal terrorist trajectories mirror the evolution of terrorism. They began as members of Jemaah Islamiyah and acted on direction from Al Qaeda, but officials here and elsewhere say they now form ad hoc groups to carry out attacks.
They have a large pool of men to recruit from. Thousands of young Indonesian men have been indoctrinated at religious schools in hatred of the West and of Jews. Some 300 Indonesian men trained in Afghanistan before the fall of the Taliban, and another 300 or so have trained at Jemaah Islamiyah camps in the Philippines. Training continues at the Philippine camps, but on a smaller scale, the officials say.
As a teenager, Mr. Azhari, who was born in Malaysia, went to Australia and studied at Adelaide University, where he showed a greater interest in motorbikes, sports and partying than in studying, Sally Neighbour wrote in "In the Shadow of Swords" (HarperCollins, 2004), a compelling account of the Southeast Asian terror network and the first Bali bombing.
He earned a doctorate from Reading University in England and then returned to Malaysia, where he became a university professor and acquired a reputation as an "irrepressible joker," Ms. Neighbour wrote.
Along the way, Mr. Azhari became a convert to fundamentalist Islam. He fell in with Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, who was then in exile in Malaysia, and Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who was Al Qaeda's senior operative in Southeast Asia. Mr. Noordin was part of the group.
In February 2002, Mr. Azhari and Mr. Noordin met with Hambali in Bangkok and are said to have decided to go after "soft targets," resulting in the first Bali attack. They were financed by Al Qaeda, and Mr. Bashir endorsed the attack, according to one of the men who carried it out and was later captured.
The next big Azhari-Noordin operation is said to have been the attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, financed by Hambali and Al Qaeda. In the weeks before the Marriott bombing, Mr. Azhari sat in the lobby sketching the layout, according to the Indonesian police.
Days after the attack, Hambali was captured in a C.I.A. operation in Bangkok and is now in C.I.A. custody at a secret site. Mr. Bashir has been arrested and is in jail in Indonesia.
Jemaah Islamiyah is a shadow of what it once was, officials and experts say. "Its leadership has been decimated, it is strapped for cash and it is riven by internal dissension," said Sidney Jones, who has written extensively about the organization for the International Crisis Group. The main faction of the organization does not agree with violent terrorist acts, Ms. Jones said.
Mr. Azhari and Mr. Noordin have split off and continue to operate. In September 2004, their target was the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, according to the Indonesian police.
In making a recruiting pitch to a Muslim radical to take part in the bombing, Mr. Noordin boasted that he was "the most wanted man in Southeast Asia," Ms. Jones said.
Mr. Azhari drove the bomb-laden vehicle within a few hundred yards of the embassy, the police have said, then got out and hopped on a motorcycle, looking over his shoulder as the bomb went off.
Reward Offered in 2002 Bombings
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (Reuters) - The United States offered a $10 million reward on Thursday for a major suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings, the second-highest bounty Washington is promising in its effort to stem terrorism.
The reward for a tip that could help kill or capture Dulmatin, an Indonesian militant believed to be hiding in the Philippines, is exceeded only by the $25 million offered for Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
October 7, 2005
Bali Suicide Bombers Said to Have Belonged to Small Gang
By RAYMOND BONNER
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 6 - Indonesia's counterterrorism forces say the suspected suicide bombers who carried out the attack in Bali last Saturday appear to have been a small group with no prior criminal record or link to a large organization like Al Qaeda, giving the case echoes of the London subway bombings in July.
A senior Indonesian counterterrorism official said Thursday in an interview that the bombers seemed to have been "jihadists" without previous involvement in terrorist acts that would have brought them to the attention of the authorities.
A former senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, the radical Islamic organization here, who has defected and is helping the government, said he did not recognize any of the men, the official said. The heads of the presumed bombers were severed in the blast, and pictures of them have appeared on television and in newspapers. The official spoke on condition that he not be identified, because he is not the authorized spokesman for his agency.
The Bali attack, which in addition to the 3 bombers killed 19 people, most of them Indonesians, in separate explosions at three restaurants, seems indicative of the way in which terrorism is shifting, terrorism experts say.
It was less sophisticated, complex, costly and deadly than the terrorist operation in Bali three years ago, in which a van loaded with explosives exploded in front of a nightclub, killing 202 people. And the organizations that financed the earlier attack, Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, have been severely weakened.
Yet the terrorist threat remains, while presenting a different challenge from when Al Qaeda provided training, financing and direction.
"Outside of the Middle East and North Africa, this is the first time we have seen suicide bombers walk into a restaurant and blow themselves up à la Israel," said a senior Western official who has closely monitored terrorist groups and activities for the last four years.
"It is only a matter of time before what you saw in Bali on Saturday night happens in a Western country," he said. The official spoke on condition that his name and country not be used, a condition imposed by most individuals of his position with access to intelligence information.
The threads between the London, Madrid and Bali attacks are not organizational, he said: "They are threads of the mind."
The terrorists have a common world view, a shared ideology. There is no evidence of outside direction, he said, and that makes fighting them challenging in a different way. He argued further that small attacks could add up to a devastation equal in some ways to large, catastrophic ones by eating away at people's security and at the economy.
These attacks should be seen less as a change in tactics than "a demonstration of another capability," said a security adviser with experience in the public and private sectors. He declined to be identified, in part for security reasons and because he has close ties to Western law enforcement agencies that would not be as willing to share information with him if they knew he talked to reporters.
In the London bombings it is not clear who may have been behind the bombers. Here, the main suspects as the masterminds are Azhari Husin, a skilled bomb-maker, and Mohamad Noordin Top, a charismatic recruiter and fund-raiser, who are thought to be operating on their own.
In that sense, their personal terrorist trajectories mirror the evolution of terrorism. They began as members of Jemaah Islamiyah and acted on direction from Al Qaeda, but officials here and elsewhere say they now form ad hoc groups to carry out attacks.
They have a large pool of men to recruit from. Thousands of young Indonesian men have been indoctrinated at religious schools in hatred of the West and of Jews. Some 300 Indonesian men trained in Afghanistan before the fall of the Taliban, and another 300 or so have trained at Jemaah Islamiyah camps in the Philippines. Training continues at the Philippine camps, but on a smaller scale, the officials say.
As a teenager, Mr. Azhari, who was born in Malaysia, went to Australia and studied at Adelaide University, where he showed a greater interest in motorbikes, sports and partying than in studying, Sally Neighbour wrote in "In the Shadow of Swords" (HarperCollins, 2004), a compelling account of the Southeast Asian terror network and the first Bali bombing.
He earned a doctorate from Reading University in England and then returned to Malaysia, where he became a university professor and acquired a reputation as an "irrepressible joker," Ms. Neighbour wrote.
Along the way, Mr. Azhari became a convert to fundamentalist Islam. He fell in with Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, who was then in exile in Malaysia, and Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who was Al Qaeda's senior operative in Southeast Asia. Mr. Noordin was part of the group.
In February 2002, Mr. Azhari and Mr. Noordin met with Hambali in Bangkok and are said to have decided to go after "soft targets," resulting in the first Bali attack. They were financed by Al Qaeda, and Mr. Bashir endorsed the attack, according to one of the men who carried it out and was later captured.
The next big Azhari-Noordin operation is said to have been the attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, financed by Hambali and Al Qaeda. In the weeks before the Marriott bombing, Mr. Azhari sat in the lobby sketching the layout, according to the Indonesian police.
Days after the attack, Hambali was captured in a C.I.A. operation in Bangkok and is now in C.I.A. custody at a secret site. Mr. Bashir has been arrested and is in jail in Indonesia.
Jemaah Islamiyah is a shadow of what it once was, officials and experts say. "Its leadership has been decimated, it is strapped for cash and it is riven by internal dissension," said Sidney Jones, who has written extensively about the organization for the International Crisis Group. The main faction of the organization does not agree with violent terrorist acts, Ms. Jones said.
Mr. Azhari and Mr. Noordin have split off and continue to operate. In September 2004, their target was the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, according to the Indonesian police.
In making a recruiting pitch to a Muslim radical to take part in the bombing, Mr. Noordin boasted that he was "the most wanted man in Southeast Asia," Ms. Jones said.
Mr. Azhari drove the bomb-laden vehicle within a few hundred yards of the embassy, the police have said, then got out and hopped on a motorcycle, looking over his shoulder as the bomb went off.
Reward Offered in 2002 Bombings
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (Reuters) - The United States offered a $10 million reward on Thursday for a major suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings, the second-highest bounty Washington is promising in its effort to stem terrorism.
The reward for a tip that could help kill or capture Dulmatin, an Indonesian militant believed to be hiding in the Philippines, is exceeded only by the $25 million offered for Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
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