Clinton Furious Palin To Be At Protest, Not Furious Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Will Be At UN – Update

In the tradition of Liberal politics, Hillary bails on Pro-Israeli demonstration at the UN against Iran. The reasoning is that Sarah Palin was also invited.

Clinton aides are “FURIOUS” that Palin was going to be there. This is a demonstration against a potential threat the world security and a country looking to destroy Israel, but they are furious that Sarah Palin, the Vice Presidential nominee of the United States will be in attendance. They are not furious that a terrorist like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who held Americans hostage in the 1970s will be present in the UN. Wow.

Also they claim they were not advised this was a bipartisan event. So Hillary who is representing Obama in this is showing the true colors of the Obama campaign… Divisiveness… Not Unity, unless of course you are a liberal.

This should be a bitartisan event, it should be a show of unity of all Americans against this terrorist. Hillary you are a discgrace to your Senate position in NY for playing a childish game like this.

Oh wait I get it, Obama thought this would tie up all those undecided Jewish Votes…

 

    

Sen. Hillary Clinton has decided to skip a pro-Israel rally in New York next week because Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was also scheduled to appear.

(AP Photo/newscom.com)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled an appearance at a New York rally next week after organizers blindsided her by inviting Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, aides to the senator said Tuesday.

Several American Jewish groups plan a major rally outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Organizers said Tuesday that both Clinton, who nearly won the Democratic nomination for president, and Palin, Republican candidate John McCain’s running mate, are expected to attend.

That would have set up a closely scrutinized and potentially explosive pairing in the midst of a presidential campaign, one in which the New York senator is campaigning for Democratic nominee Barack Obama while Palin actively courts disappointed Clinton supporters.

Clinton aides were furious. They first learned of the plan to have both Clinton and Palin appear when informed by reporters.

“Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event,” said Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines. “Sen. Clinton will therefore not be attending.”

A McCain-Palin campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity because Palin’s schedule for Monday has not been announced, said only that Palin tentatively planned to attend the rally.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, did not immediately return messages Tuesday seeking comment, nor did other organizers of the rally. Other event sponsors are the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now, United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

Both McCain and Obama have made strong appeals to Jewish voters, particularly in critical states like Florida. Obama has emphasized to Jewish audiences his commitment to Israel’s security, and has worked to dispel doubts created by false rumors that he is Muslim.

Sarah Palin has been UN-invited to the rally against Ahmadinejad. The Jewish groups are claiming that it is because they do not want the media frenzy of having major politicians there… What a load of shit. That is exactly what this rally should have. The Media should be all over it, how they get there does not matter.

This invitation should be reopened and extended back to the Obama camp. If the Obama camp does not want to participate, it will show their silly politics as usual. 

This is without doubt a decision that was made because Hillary pulled out and is nothing more than a political posturing move by Obama.

The Jews in this country still do not realize it is the conservative base that has supported Israel all along and will continue to support Israel. The liberals only want the Jewish votes…

Sarah Palin has been disinvited from a rally next week to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an event that Hillary Clinton pulled out of just a day earlier so as not to be seen alongside the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Organizers said they aren’t being partisan. They decided to bar all elected and federal officials from the rally on Monday in fear of a “media feeding frenzy.” The rally was specifically intended to protest Ahmadinejad’s presence at the United Nations.

“In order to keep the focus on Iranian threats and to ensure that this critical message not be obscured, the organizers of the rally have decided not to have any American political personalities appear,” the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now said in a statement Thursday.

Both Clinton and Palin initially had accepted invitations to join the rally, planned by several American Jewish groups. But Clinton’s aides objected after they learned early this week that Palin would also be part of the rally. One aide said they were concerned the event would become “partisan” and “political.”

McCain, who earlier attempted to coax Barack Obama into joining the rally in lieu of Clinon, said in a statement Thursday that Palin’s invitation was “withdrawn under pressure from Democratic partisans.”

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with Republicans, Democrats and independents alike to oppose Ahmadinejad’s goal of a nuclear armed Iran. Senator Obama’s campaign had the opportunity to join us. Senator Obama chose politics rather than the national interest,” he said.

Malcolm Hoenlein, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told FOX News the decision to disinvite Palin had nothing to do with Clinton, but rather the unwanted media attention.

“Regrettably the focus of the rally has been obfuscated by media feeding frenzy in recent days,” he said. “The decision was made for variety of reasons, and many ethnic and religious leaders and dignitaries from the U.S. and abroad will still be speaking.”

FOX News’ Mosheh Oinounou, Shushannah Walshe and Serafin Gomez contributed to this report.

 

China Hands Over Intel Regarding Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program

China, a long time defender of Iran over it’s potential nuclear weapons program, has turned over intel regarding the program. China is probably in a good position to actually reveal what Iran’s intentions are as it is believed they helped Iran develope their nuclear program.  This is a turning point for Iran, as one of their staunchest allies is afraid enough of what Iran’s plans are, they are releasing their information on it.

VIENNA, Austria —  China, an opponent of harsh U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran, has nonetheless recently provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with intelligence linked to Tehran’s alleged attempts to make nuclear arms, diplomats have told The Associated Press.

Beijing, along with Moscow, has acted as a brake within the council, consistently watering down a U.S.-led push to impose severe penalties on Tehran for its nuclear defiance since the first set of sanctions was passed in late 2006.

A Chinese decision to provide information for use in the agency’s attempts to probe Iran’s purported nuclear weapons program would appear to reflect growing international unease about how honest the Islamic republic has been in denying it ever tried to make such arms.

The new development was revealed by two senior diplomats who closely follow the IAEA probe of Iran’s nuclear program. One commented late last week and the other Wednesday.

The IAEA declined comment, and nobody was picking up phones at the Iranian and Chinese missions to the IAEA.

John Bolton, the previous U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and before that the U.S. undersecretary of state in charge of the Iran nuclear dossier, said any such Chinese move would be “potentially significant” because of Beijing’s former military ties to Tehran. /**/

In a telephone call from Washington, Bolton said America believed that the Chinese had helped Iran develop its nuclear program, particularly in one area of uranium enrichment, “plus they had cooperation on ballistic missile programs as well.”

The diplomats said Beijing was the most surprising entry among a fairly substantial list of nations recently forwarding information to the agency that adds to previously provided intelligence, and which could be relevant in attempts to probe Iran for past or present nuclear weapons research.

But they said several other countries not normally considered to be in the anti-Iran camp had also done so in recent weeks.

The diplomats — who demanded anonymity because their information was confidential — declined to name individual nations. But they attributed a generally increased flow of information to the U.N. nuclear watchdog to concerns sparked by a multimedia presentation to the 35 IAEA board members by the agency in February about intelligence previously forwarded by member states on Iran’s alleged clandestine nuclear arms program.

One of the diplomats said the agency also was on the lookout for misleading information provided it, either inadvertently or in attempts to falsely implicate Iran.

One example, he said was a document showing experiments with implosion technology that can be used to detonate a nuclear device. While the document appeared genuine, it was unclear whether it originated from Iran, said the diplomat.

Suspected weapons-related work outlined in the February presentation and IAEA reports preceding it include:

—uranium conversion linked to high explosives testing and designs of a missile re-entry vehicle, all apparently interconnected through involvement of officials and institutions;

—procurement of so-called “dual use” equipment and experiments that also could be used in both civilian and military nuclear programs; and

—Iran’s possession of a 15-page document outlining how to form uranium metal into the shape of a warhead.

A U.S. intelligence estimate late last year said Tehran worked on nuclear weapons programs until 2003, while Israel and other nations say such work continued past that date.

Tehran continues uranium enrichment, which can generate the fissile core of nuclear warheads, and has led to three sets of Security Council sanctions but insists it is developing the technology only for its other use — power generation.

It denies ever trying to make atomic arms and last month declared the issue of its purported nuclear weapons strivings — and any attempt to investigate them — closed, asserting that information suggesting it ever had a nascent nuclear arms program is fabricated.

But the agency has signaled it is not giving up on its efforts to investigate purported military aspects of Tehran’s nuclear activities. Other diplomats told the AP that deputy director general Olli Heinonen planned to meet in the next few days with Ali-Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran’s chief delegate to the agency, to press for answers.

Ahead of that tentative meeting, Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, urged Tehran to end its stonewalling. He told the AP that with the next IAEA report due in about two months, time was running out for Iran to “explain these serious indications of troubling activities.”

An IAEA report in February said suspicions about most past Iranian nuclear activities had eased or been laid to rest. But it also noted that Iran had rejected the information provided by IAEA member nations to the agency for its probe of suspected weapons research as false and irrelevant.

It also noted that Iran had blocked agency requests to talk to key officials suspected of possible involvement in past military nuclear programs, among them one identified by diplomats as nuclear engineer Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

They told the AP that he and others active as academics in Iran’s civilian nuclear faculties are suspected by the agency of key roles in secret nuclear activities with a possible military dimension, including the procurement of “dual use” equipment.

In a summary recently forwarded to the AP, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group that claims to have informants inside the Iranian government, identified three others as Revolutionary Guard commander Fereydoon Abbasi, Seyed Jaber Safdari and Mohammed Mehdi Nejad-Nouri.

It said the three and others are involved in clandestine nuclear weapons-related research at three Iranian universities: Beheshti; Malek Ahstar and Imam Hossein.

Asked for verification, a senior diplomat of an IAEA member state said that a fact check run by his country’s relevant agency showed the claims to be generally accurate. Another senior diplomat also said the information appeared to be fairly reliable.

Google Relists Articles From InnerCity Press – Who Is Really Behind The Censorship Though

Google has brought back news articles from Inner City Press after having “accidentally” removing them. Inner City is known for publishing news that is critical of the UN, so who was really behind it? I think any half way intelligent person can figure this out. With all of the problems the UN has created for itself, it really needs to just go away…

NEW YORK  —  Google News quietly reinstated Tuesday the articles of a news service that routinely exposes U.N. corruption, a day after FOXNews.com ran a story about the Internet giant’s decision to remove Inner City Press from its search engine.

Inner City Press returned to the Google News search late in the day, but much sooner than the “couple weeks” a Google representative had promised. The week of stories the news service ran since Google News dropped it on Feb. 13 were not restored.

The news outlet, run by journalist Matthew Lee, has been critical of the U.N. and internal corruption within the organization. Lee was informed that Google News would drop his organization in a Feb. 8 e-mail.

Click here to read more at Inner City Press.

Someone complained to Google early this month that Inner City Press was a one-man operation, violating the Google News ground rule that news organizations listed must have two or more employees, according to Gabriel Stricker, a Google spokesman.

Lee, who insists his organization has appropriate staff, believes someone within the U.N. pressured Google to drop him. The U.N. denies the charges.

Speaking at a press briefing Tuesday, Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General said, “The Secretary-General has often spoken out in favor of press freedom and will continue to do so, but that insinuating that he, or his staff, is linked to the decision taken by Google News to de-list Inner City Press is blatantly false and misleading.”

Since 2005, Lee’s been focusing almost entirely on stories that deal with internal corruption inside the U.N., posting several stories online almost daily.

He’s been especially interested in the inner workings of what could be called the practical-applications arm of the international organization, the United Nations Development Programme.

Google said the “de-listing” was due to a misunderstanding and agreed to restore Inner City Press stories to the Google News service.

The reaction to the de-listing, however temporary, had been furious. The non-profit Government Accountability Project lambasted the company, calling Inner City Press “the most effective and important media organization for U.N. whistleblowers.”

Saddam’s Downfall

Here’s another story the liberal media does not want you to know. They are so intent on chanting that Bush Lied that they want to bury the truth.

The truth is simple, Saddam Hussein had a program to convince the world that he had weaopons of mass destruction and had all intentions of starting it up once the heat was off. He had the assests in place to resume the program at will, sort of like Iran’s “suspended” nuke program…

The program was so good they he believed it himself…

But the liberals will keep chanting that Bush Lied… Wake up, it is only a lie if he knew it to be false and said it anyways… Bush, Congress, intel agencies around the world, governments around the world believed that he had weapons of mass destruction. The liars are the ones that deny they believed it or campaign that they only believed it because of Bush’s lies…

NEW YORK – Saddam Hussein allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction to deter rival Iran and did not think the United States would stage a major invasion, according to an FBI interrogator who questioned the Iraqi leader after his capture.

Saddam expected only a limited aerial attack by the United States and thought he could remain in control, the FBI special agent, George Piro, told CBS’s “60 Minutes” program in an interview to be broadcast Sunday.

“He told me he initially miscalculated … President Bush’s intentions,” said Piro. “He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 … a four-day aerial attack.”

“He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack,” Piro said.

In 2003, a close aide of Saddam’s told The Associated Press that Saddam did not expect a U.S. invasion and deliberately kept the world guessing about his weapons program, although he already had gotten rid of it.

Keeping up the illusion of weapons program
Saddam publicly denied having unconventional weapons before the U.S. invasion, but prevented U.N. inspectors from working in the country from 1998 until 2002 and when they finally returned in November 2002, they often complained that Iraq wasn’t fully cooperating.

Piro, a Lebanese-American who speaks Arabic, debriefed Saddam after he was found in an underground hideout near his home city north of Baghdad in December 2003, nine months after the U.S. invasion.

Piro said Saddam also said that he wanted to keep up the illusion that he had the program in part because he thought it would deter a likely Iranian invasion.

“For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that (faking having the weapons) would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq,” Piro told Scott Pelley of “60 Minutes.”

Piro added that Saddam had the intention of restarting an Iraqi weapons program at the time, and had engineers available for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Kuwait invasion after insult to Iraqi women
Piro also mentioned Saddam’s revelation during questioning that what pushed him to invade Kuwait in 1990 was a dishonorable swipe at Iraqi women made by the Kuwaiti leader, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah.

During the buildup to the invasion, Iraq had accused Kuwait of flooding the world market with oil and demanded compensation for oil produced from a disputed area on the border of the two countries.

Piro said that Al Sabah told the foreign minister of Iraq during a discussion aimed at resolving some of those conflicts that “he would not stop doing what he was doing until he turned every Iraqi woman into a $10 prostitute. And that really sealed it for him, to invade Kuwait,” said Piro.

Russian Spys In The UN Stole $500 Million in Iraq’s Oil For Food Program

Well another reason has surfaced on why Russia was against invading Iraq…

UNITED NATIONS —  A former Russian top spy says his agents helped the Russian government steal nearly $500 million from the U.N.’s oil-for-food program in Iraq before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Sergei Tretyakov, who defected to the United States in 2000 as a double agent, says he oversaw an operation that helped Saddam’s regime manipulate the price of Iraqi oil sold under the program — and allow Russia to skim profits.

Tretyakov, former deputy head of intelligence at Russia’s U.N. mission from 1995 to 2000, names some names, but sticks mainly to code names. Among the spies he says he recruited for Russia were a Canadian nuclear weapons expert who became a U.N. nuclear verification expert in Vienna, a senior Russian official in the oil-for-food program and a former Soviet bloc ambassador. He describes a Russian businessman who got hold of a nuclear bomb, and kept it stored in a shed at his dacha outside Moscow.

The 51-year-old Tretyakov had never spoken out about his spying before this week, when he granted his first news media interviews to publicize a book published Thursday. Written by former Washington Post journalist Pete Earley, the book is titled “Comrade J.: The Untold Secrets of Russia’s Master Spy in America after the End of the Cold War.”

“It’s an international spy nest,” Tretyakov said of the U.N., during an interview this week with The Associated Press. “Inside the U.N., we were fishing for knowledgeable diplomats who could give us first of all anti-American information.”

His defection was first reported by the AP in 2001. Shortly after, the New York Times broke the news that he was not a diplomat, but a top Russian spy who was extensively debriefed by the CIA and the FBI.

Some of the people named or referenced by a code name in the book have denied Tretyakov’s claims. The Russian mission to the U.N. said Friday it would have no immediate comment.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, described Tretyakov’s allegations as potentially serious violations of law and U.N. rules.

But Dujarric said it would be up to others to prosecute if the allegations are substantiated: “Since the U.N. can’t prosecute, it is now up to national governments to prosecute.”

An 18-month investigation into the oil-for-food corruption, led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, culminated in an October 2005 report accusing more than 2,200 companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam’s regime to bilk the humanitarian program in Iraq of $1.8 billion.

The program was aimed at easing Iraqi suffering under U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It allowed Iraq to sell oil provided the bulk of the proceeds were used to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods and to pay war reparations. Volcker’s reports blamed shoddy U.N. management and the world’s most powerful nations for allowing corruption in the $64 billion program to go on for years.

Tretyakov defected to the United States with his wife and daughter in 2000, after serving as a double agent passing along secrets to the U.S. government. He calls his defection “the major failure of Russian intelligence in the United States” and warns that Russia, despite the end of the Cold War, harbors bad intentions toward the United States.

The decision to defect, he said, was made only after his mother died in 1997, and he had no other close relatives alive in Russia who could be used to blackmail him. The Tretyakovs now live in retirement in an undisclosed location.

“I got extremely disgusted with the Russian government, and I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not very emotional. I’m not a Boy Scout,” said Tretyakov, who was accompanied during the interview by his wife, Helen, and Earley. “Knowing people who are running Russia, I started feeling that it’s immoral to help them. And finally in my life, when I defected, I did something good in my life. Because I want to help United States.”

Iran and Hezbollah Not Islamic Enough

Al Zawahiri’s rant… Get this, Iran is an ally of the US … He sounds desparate…

Now his call is to Hamas, who from the sounds of the drum is getting ready to get their ass kicked…

The undertone of the interview is the creation of a Muslim nation than encompasses the world to bring back the Caliphate…

But no, the liberal media will tell you it is because of the oppression the US puts on Muslim countries…

This interview really shows what the root cause of Islamic terrorism is.

Al-Zawahiri in Two Recent Messages: ‘Iran Stabbed a Knife into the Back of the Islamic Nation;’ Urges Hamas to Declare Commitment to Restoring the Caliphate

On December 16, 2007, the Islamist website http://www.ek-ls.org, which is hosted by NOC4HOSTS Inc., in Tampa, FL, USA, posted a video of an interview with Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The 100-minute interview, which aired during the month of Dhu Al-Qa’da, 1428 (November 11-December 10, 2007) and which was produced by Al-Qaeda’s media company Al-Sahab, was subtitled in English, and included film footage to emphasize Al-Zawahiri’s statements. Most of the interview focused on Iran and on the current situation in the Iraqi jihad.

On December 14, 2007, the Islamist website Al-Hesbah, which is also hosted by NOC4Hosts Inc. in Tampa, FL, posted the audio of an address by Al-Zawahiri titled “The Treason… of Annapolis.” In the recording, which was also produced by Al-Sahab, Al-Zawahiri rebukes Hamas for attempting to renew the political dialogue with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud ‘Abbas despite ‘Abbas’ participation in the Annapolis conference, which Hamas had criticized. Al-Zawahiri then called on Hamas to reject any political negotiation over the future of Palestine, and to declare its commitment to waging jihad until all Islamic lands – from Chechnya to Andalusia (Spain) – are liberated and subjugated to Islamic rule and until the Caliphate is restored.

Also in the recording, Al-Zawahiri criticized imprisoned jihadist sheikhs [1] who had renounced jihad against the West and against Arab regimes, and denounced them for their condemnation of mujahideen such as Osama bin Laden. Finally, he urged Muslims in general and the Egyptians in particular to prevent Egypt from becoming “a support base for the Crusader campaign against the Muslims.”

The following are excerpts and main points from the December 17 video [2] and from the December 14 audio recording. ^[3]

December 17, 2007 Video: “Iran Stabbed a Knife into the Back of the Islamic Nation”

Al-Zawahiri dismissed the possibility of Iran-Al-Qaeda cooperation against their common enemy, the U.S. He said that in the past, the emphasis had been on jointly fighting the Zionists-Crusader alliance against the Muslim ummah, but that Iran had surprised Al-Qaeda by collaborating with the U.S. in its invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and had even come to an agreement with the Americans before they entered Iraq, over the division of that country.

He added that likewise, the Shi’ite militias that were trained, funded, and armed by Iran throughout the years had been integrated into the Iraqi security apparatuses, and had become, and still remained, the talons of the Crusader occupier in his war against the Muslims in Iraq.

Al-Zawahiri said that although Iran repeated and reiterated slogans of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” not a single fatwa had been issued by any Shi’ite authority, either in Iran or outside it, calling for jihad against the Americans in Iraq and in Afghanistan. He said that moreover, [Iranian Expediency Council chairman and No. 2 man in the Iranian regime] Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had expressed respect for the wishes of the Iraqis who were collaborating with Iran that the American forces will remain in Iraq.

Al-Zawahiri also accused Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah of not representing the obligation to personal jihad for liberating the Muslim lands, but rather for representing a narrow, fanatical nationalist perception that is unknown to Islam.

He also dismissed the possibility that Al-Qaeda would aid Iran in the event of a U.S. attack on it, saying, “Iran has stabbed a knife into the back of the Islamic nation, and the traces of this stabbing will remain in the Muslim memory for a long time to come.” He wondered how Iran could collaborate with the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan and at the same time threaten the U.S. with an extremely harsh reaction if it were to attack it, asking, “Do they [the Iranians] think that Tehran is more important than Karbala and Najaf?” because they did not lift a finger “when the American cannon struck the tomb of the imam [holy to Shi’ites] at Najaf.”

The Jihad Fighters’ Strength is on the Rise, While the Americans are Weakening – Their Exit from Iraq is Only a Matter of Time

Al-Zawahiri called “the rise of the avant-garde of the mujahideen of the Islamic nation,” the most important development in the Islamic world, saying that it had “become a fact in the world as a result of the growing Islamic awakening” across the Muslim world. He said that Iraq was the most important jihad front today, and that the jihad fighters’ strength was on the rise while the Americans were weakening, and added that their exit from Iraq was only a matter of time – and proof of this is was U.K.’s decision to flee.

Al-Zawahiri called on the jihad fighters to fight the Iraqi government and security apparatuses, which he termed murtadoun (i.e. those who renounce their religion). With regard to the Iraqi tribes’ collaboration with the Americans, he stated that these tribes were mere riffraff that the Americans had bought and paid for in order to sow civil war among the Muslims, and stressed that the honorable tribes supported jihad and that many of their sons were fighting in its ranks. He called on the tribes to purge themselves of this riffraff, and threatened that their day would come; the Americans would soon leave and would not be able to protect them forever.

Al-Zawahiri noted that there was now nothing called Al-Qaeda in Iraq, since the Al-Qaeda organization in Iraq would be merging with the other jihad groups in the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which has become a shari’a Imara (a shari’a-based Imara, i.e. under an Amir) and had received a vow of allegiance from most of the jihad fighters and tribes in Iraq. He rejected accusations that the ISI was killing innocent people, and claimed that in any case, when Muslims fought with the enemy against jihad fighters it was a very grave crime.

Al-Zawahiri accused the global media of manipulating Osama bin Laden’s most recent recording, by omitting its most important parts and by misinterpreting bin Laden’s statements. Al-Zawahiri said that bin Laden’s criticism was not directed against the ISI alone, but against all jihad fighters in Iraq, and that the jihad had shattered the monopoly held by the government and media that pretended to be independent, such as the BBC, and that the jihad was today directing “the most important media battle against the Crusader-Zionist enemy” and exposing the world to facts to which it had not previously been exposed. He added that the jihad had triumphed in this ideological battle just as it had triumphed in the battle over the Internet websites.

December 14, 2007 Audio: “The Goal of the Annapolis Conference… Was to Make Palestine Jewish”

“The goal of the Annapolis conference… was to make Palestine Jewish. The Crusader emperor of Washington managed to get 16 Arab states to participate in the opening [session] of the conference… [thus setting them up] as false witnesses to his new deal… for selling Palestine… In order to complete the Crusader deception, America prepared [a document] setting out in detail the understandings reached at the Annapolis conference, which is to be submitted the [U.N.] Security Council [as a draft motion]. [The goal is] to obtain a Security Council resolution which will be imposed on the Islamic ummah in Palestine…

“I am amazed… at the [Hamas] politicians who surrendered four-fifths of Palestine and authorized Mahmoud ‘Abbas to negotiate on the Palestinians’ behalf in the palaces of Mecca, but who then [began to] complain… and to denounce the [Annapolis] conference, after they saw with their own eyes the catastrophe into which ‘brother’ Mahmoud ‘Abbas had led them.”

“Declare… That You Strive to Establish the Caliphate”

“[Surprisingly,] having condemned the [Annapolis] conference, [Hamas is still referring to] Mahmoud ‘Abbas as ‘brother President,’ still urging [him] to [resume] talks [with the Hamas leadership], and still continuing to recognize his legitimacy. [Hamas,] you should return to your pure doctrine, which rejected [all] concessions, political maneuvers, and diplomatic deceptions that bring [only] destruction upon [Islam] and the world. I call upon you to declare, in the clearest possible manner, that you… aspire to implement shari’a, that you reject the rule of the masses and any other rule except that of the Koran and the Sunna, that you strive to establish the Caliphate, that you will fight until the word of Allah [reigns] supreme… that you aspire to liberate every inch of Islamic land from Andalusia to Chechnya, and that you will join efforts with the rest of the mujahideen… [in the struggle against] the Crusader-Zionist enemy…”

Renounce Any International Agreement to Sell Palestine

“I call upon you to renounce the Mecca Accord, and any [other] international agreement which [is designed] to sell Palestine. [Declare] that you reject and renounce every [decision] which was prescribed by… the [U.N. in an attempt to] annihilate Palestine and make it Jewish. I call upon you to announce that you are no longer a national resistance movement, but an Islamic jihad movement which transcends national solidarity and believes in brotherhood rooted in Islam… I call upon you to extend your hand in friendship… to all the Muslim mujahideen… [and to declare] that the mujahideen everywhere are closer to you, and more loyal and faithful [in your eyes], than Mahmoud ‘Abbas and Muhammad Dahlan…”

“Is [Annapolis Not] One of Those Deals [Designed] to Destroy Palestine?”

“As for those [imprisoned jihadi sheikhs] who have renounced [their jihadi views]… recognized [Egyptian President] Hosni Mubarak as a [legitimate] guardian of Muslim affairs… denounced the [9/11] attacks against the U.S., and expressed amazement at the Taliban’s refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden… I say to [them]: ‘What do you say about Annapolis? Is it [not] one of the deals [designed] to destroy Palestine – [dreamt up] by your ruler [Mubarak], and by his son [Gamal Mubarak], the new star rising in the sky of submission to the Americans? Is it [not merely another] step in the Crusader-Zionist plan to control the Muslim countries, and one more successful [step] on the road that your ‘martyr’ Sadat began?'”

“How Did You Allow Egypt to Become a Support Base for the Crusader Campaign Against the Muslims?”

“I say to the Islamic ummah in Egypt: What is your role in resisting the aggression against Islam and the Muslims? How did you allow Egypt to become a support base for the Crusader campaign against the Muslims…? Resist the Jewish and Crusader campaign, and beware the poison of weakness and submissiveness that the collaborating regimes are attempting to spread among you. [They are doing this] by means of the statements by those [imprisoned sheikhs] who renounced [their jihadi views] and capitulated [to the demands of the West]… calling upon us to unite behind Hosni Mubarak in order to ‘oppose’ Israel.

“I ask [those sheikhs]: ‘Where should we unite behind Mubarak – in Oslo, in Sharm Al-Sheikh, or in Annapolis? And on what should we agree with him – about training thousands of Palestinian Authority policemen in order to defeat the Hamas government? About the truckloads of weapons that he is providing to Mahmoud ‘Abbas and Muhammad Dahlan?'”

---

[1] The most prominent of these is Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, currently imprisoned in Egypt. For more information on Sayyed Imam, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1785, “Major Jihadi Cleric and Author of Al-Qaeda’s Shari’a Guide to Jihad: 9/11 Was a Sin; A Shari’a Court Should Be Set Up to Hold Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri Accountable; There Are Only Two Kinds of People in Al-Qaeda – The Ignorant and Those Who Seek Worldly Gain,” December 14, 2007, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP178507.[2] http://www.ek-ls.org/forum/.

[3] http://al-hesbah.com/v/showthread.php?t=157128.

Jihad Islami Leadership Slammed By Israel Strikes

Israeli response to rocket attacks from Palestinian territories have resulted in the elimination of 11 Jihad Islami chiefs in their top command, missile squads and weapons manufacturing. This offensive is based on the 2300 missiles that have been launched into Israel over the past year. A number the liberal media does not want you to hear.

This latest targeting by Israel has been very well executed with minimal collateral damage… Another fact that the liberal media does not want you to hear…

Jihad Islami had threatened Israel with suicide attacks in retaliation for the killing of its chiefs… Funny, it is ok of them to fire missiles into Israel, however when Israel responds to said attacks, then they threaten suicide bombs… Why doesn’t the rest of the world wake up and see these terrorist groups for what they really are… and in other news Hamas has issued a call for suiced attacks against Israeli, oddly enough Debka recently revealed Hamas’ new suiced squad that was debuted at Hamas’ anniversary party…

 At least two operatives killed, several wounded after Kerem Shalom communities sustain heavy Palestinian missile-mortar attack, placing medical services in southwest Negev on high alert. Jihad Islami threatens suicide attacks against Israeli border communities after losing 11 of its chiefs overnight.

Military sources report the Israeli military acting on precise intelligence was instructed to target three Jihad leadership levels: the top command, missile squads and weapons fabrication. A total of 2,350 missiles and mortars were fired from Gaza in 2007, double the 2006 figure.

Overnight, Majd al Harzin, head of Qassam production, and two more Jihad members died in the first Israel air strike of their car in Sheikh Redwan, Gaza City. A second car was bombed in the Sheikh Ajlin district, leaving Karim Dahduah, head of Gaza’s Jihad military arm and his aide dead. Three more Jihad operatives on their way to missile attacks were killed in third attack in Jebalya, further north.

Hamas calls on all Palestinian factions to mobilize for vengeance against Israel after the Iran-backed terrorist group vowed revenge, including suicide attacks in Israel.

Another three armed Palestinians, including senior Jihad chief in northern West Bank, died in a firefight with an Israeli arresting unit at Kabatia, outside Jenin. Eleven wanted Palestinian terrorists were detained.

Israel has filed a complaint against Palestinian terrorist attacks with the United Nations.

Al Qaeda Linked Group Responsible For Algeria Bombing

Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) AKA Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the two bombs that went off near the UN offices and Constitutional Council buildings in Algiers and identified the two bombers  as Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Othman and Abdel Rahman Abu Abdel Nasser al-Asimi.

ALGIERS, Algeria (CNN) — Rescuers are sifting through the rubble of the United Nations headquarters in Algiers hoping to find survivors after a powerful bomb ripped off the building’s facade and leveled nearby U.N. offices.

Rescuers and bomb experts search for survivors in the rubble of a destroyed building.

It was one of two suspected car bombs that struck Algiers within 10 minutes of each other.

The death toll is unclear: the official government count is at least 26, but hospital sources in Algiers told CNN affiliate BFM-TV that 76 people were killed in the two blasts. A statement from the United Nations said 45 people were reported killed.

Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni blamed a militant Islamic group with ties to al Qaeda for the attacks, which also targeted a building housing Algeria’s Constitutional Council and Supreme Court.

In a posting on an Islamist Web site, the group al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility.

CNN could not immediately corroborate that claim, but the Web site is known to carry messages, claims and videos from al Qaeda and other militant groups.

In the posting, the bombers were identified as Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Othman and Abdel Rahman Abu Abdel Nasser al-Asimi. It said two trucks were filled with “no less than 800 kg (1,763 pounds) of explosives.”

The group called the operation “another successful conquest and a second epic that the knights of faith have dictated with their blood, defending the wounded Islamic nation and in defiance to the Crusaders and their agents, the slaves of America and the sons of France.”

At least 10 U.N. staffers were among those killed, according to U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe.

The offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees — located across the street from the U.N. headquarters — were leveled by a blast that struck about 9:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday.

“Our offices are basically destroyed now, nothing works,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said from its Geneva headquarters. Watch his full interview

He said rescuers are working into the night trying to get to the trapped U.N. workers. “It’s a very serious situation still with the U.N. in Algiers,” he said.

In a strongly worded statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned what he called “an abjectly cowardly strike against civilian officials serving humanity’s highest ideals under the U.N. banner.”

“The perpetrators of these crimes will not escape the strongest possible condemnation — and ultimate punishment — by Algerian authorities and the international community,” Ban said in the written statement.

He said he has sent senior advisers and other top U.N. officials to head to Algiers to assist in the investigation and rescue effort.

Most of those killed in the coordinated attacks were victims of the first suspected car bombing near the Constitutional Council — which oversees elections — and Supreme Court in the Algiers neighborhood of Ben Aknoun, according to the state-run Algeria Press Agency.

That blast struck a bus outside the targeted building, killing many of those on board, the news agency reported.

One man said he heard the first blast then the second exploded in front of him. “I saw the trees falling and the glass shattering in front of me. I had to run away from the car,” he said.

Zerhouni said the attack was the work of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), the same group that took responsibility for an attack in April in downtown Algiers that killed 33 people.

That group also uses the name al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb after merging with al Qaeda earlier this year. It abandoned small-scale attacks in favor of headline-grabbing blasts after it joined with al Qaeda.

CNN International Security Correspondent Paula Newton said the merger combined the expertise of Algerian guerrillas with the operational ability of al Qaeda in North Africa, enabling the group to penetrate the usually extensive security in high-profile areas of Algiers.

She said the group’s goal is to destabilize countries like Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which it sees as enemies of the Islamic state.

Zerhouni said police interrogations of GSPC members arrested in the wake of the April attack revealed that Algeria’s Constitutional Council and Supreme Court were on a list of GSPC targets.

Algeria, which has a population of 33 million, is still recovering from more than a decade of violence that began after the military government called a halt to elections which an Islamist party was poised to win.

Tens of thousands of people died in the unrest. Although the country has remained relatively peaceful, recent terrorist attacks have raised fears of a slide back to violence

Islamic Terrorist Attack UN Refugee Agency In Alegria

Jihad on a UN Refugee Agency and Constitution Council in Algeria has killed at least 10 UN workers and many others in two bomb attacks. Some of the victims were on a school bus, so chances are these were children that the Islamic terrorist killed.

Two car bomb attacks, one of which targeted offices of the U.N. refugee agency, killed at least 45 people in the Algerian capital on Tuesday, authorities said.

The civil protection agency said one attack killed 30 people and that a second blast left another 15 people dead.

Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, quoted by the official news agency APS, said the targets were the offices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the seat of Algeria’s Constitutional Council.

The UNHCR’s chief spokesman, Ron Redmond, confirmed that the agency’s Algiers office was hit by an apparent car bomb, and that some staff were injured. He said the explosion happened at about 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) in a street where the offices of the UNHCR and the U.N. Development Program are both located.

“What is suspected to be a car bomb went off in the street,” he said.

APS said some victims of one of the attacks had been riding a school bus.

Public radio, Algiers Network 3, said the two bombs went off about 10 minutes apart.

Algerian TV images broadcast in France showed a badly damaged building with many windows blown out.

Algeria has been battling Islamic insurgents since the early 1990s, when the army canceled the second round of the country’s first-ever multiparty elections, stepping in to prevent likely victory by an Islamic fundamentalist party.

Islamist armed groups then turned to force to overthrow the government, with up to 200,000 people killed in the ensuing violence.

The last year has seen a series of bombings — many of them hitherto unheard of suicide attacks — against state targets.

Recent bombings have been claimed by al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa. That was the name adopted in January after the remnants of the insurgency, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, formally linked with al-Qaida.

Once focused on toppling the Algerian government, the group has now turned its sights on international holy war and the fight against Western interests. French counterterrorism officials say it is drawing members from across North Africa.

A Sept. 6 attack during President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s visit to the eastern city of Batna killed 22 people, and a suicide bombing two days later on a coast guard barracks in the town of Dellys left at least 28 dead.

From the NY Times:

At Least 45 Dead in Algiers Bombings

Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

The Constitutional Court building in Algiers after the bombing today.

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By KATRIN BENNHOLD

Published: December 12, 2007

PARIS, Dec. 11 — Two car bombs exploded in close succession in the Algerian capital today, killing at least 45 people and wounding several others, according to Algerian officials. One official said it was the worst day of violence in the capital this decade.

Thirty people died in a blast near the Constitutional Court building in Algiers, while another 15 were killed in a second explosion near a number of United Nations offices, a diplomat said, citing information released by the Algerian Civil Protection Agency.

The Algerian interior minister, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, said that in both cases explosives had been strapped to vehicles, the Algerian press agency reported on its web site.

There was no immediate indication whether the twin attacks were the work of a well-known Salafist terrorist group with a long history of violence and alleged links to Al Qaeda.

The Group for Preaching and Combat, which is better known by its French initials, GSPC, has been under close watch by American and European counter-terrorism officials for several years.

The scrutiny intensified after the group announced last year that it had joined Al Qaeda in a bid to become its North African arm and organize extremists across the region.

Algeria suffered from intense violence after the Algerian army staged a coup to prevent an Islamic party from winning elections in 1992. The violence eventually subsided, but in recent years sporadic attacks have continued to disrupt life in Algeria and neighboring countries.

On April 11, a suicide bomb killed 33 people in Algiers. Responsibility for that attack was claimed by GSPC, also known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

That the bombing today occurred on the 11th of the month may be significant. The attack in April also occurred on the 11th. Both bring to mind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and the March 11, 2004, bombings in Madrid. After the April bombing, some terrorism experts suggested that the attacks added to the accumulating symbolism of that day of the month.

The aim of the terrorist group is to overthrow the government and install an Islamic theocracy in Algeria and throughout North Africa.

Al Qaeda’ s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, publicly anointed the group as Al Qaeda’s representative in North Africa on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and in January the group changed its name to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a region that includes Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

The group has apparently undergone a revival since then, drawing new members from across North Africa, terrorism experts in Europe and North Africa say. Governments on both sides of the Mediterranean fear that the group is coalescing into a regional terror movement.

Graham Bowley contributed reporting from New York.

Pictures:

VOA News

Television grab image taken from Algerian television channel Canal Algerie 11 shows people on the site of the explosion outside the Algiers office of the UN Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 11 Dec 2007

BBC

Dozens of people have been killed in two bomb blasts in the Algerian capital, Algiers. Many are feared trapped in the debris of collapsed buildings.

The first struck the central El Biar area, near the constitutional court, followed shortly afterwards by an attack on this UN building in the Hydra neighbourhood.

Algerian Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said the explosions were caused by two car bombs – with the second involving a suicide bomber.

“The death toll is very high,” Mr Zerhouni said after the attacks, without giving a precise figure.

A UN employee caught up in the second blast told the BBC: “Everything shattered. Everything fell. I hid under a piece of furniture so I wouldn’t be hit by the debris.”

 

The UN worker described swarms of people out on the streets, which initially impeded emergency services reaching the wounded.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility. This is the latest in a series of bombings across the country this year in which scores of people have died.

Many of the recent blasts have been claimed by members of al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing, calling themselves al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

From the AFP:

Algerian rescue workers and bomb experts search for survivors under the rubble