slimmouse » Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:16 pm wrote:
How long can this farce continue?
Ad infinitum.
Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff
by coffin_dodger » Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:14 pm
by stillrobertpaulsen » Wed Feb 25, 2015 6:24 pm
Nordic » Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:12 pm wrote:Would love to find a second, corroborating source for this.
http://www.hangthebankers.com/iraqi-arm ... s-to-isis/Iraqi army downs 2 UK planes delivering weapons to ISIS
Iraqi Army Downs Two British Planes Carrying Weapons for ISIL Terrorists
al-Anbar province: numerous flights by US-led coalition planes airdrop weapons and supplies for ISIL in terrorist-held areas.
GR editor’s Note
There are no reports in the Western mainstream media pertaining to this issue.
This report is based on statements emanating from the Iraq parliament, with photographic evidence. We have not been in a position to corroborate this report by FARS News.
Iraq’s army has shot down two British planes as they were carrying weapons for the ISIL terrorists in Al-Anbar province, a senior lawmaker disclosed on Monday.
“The Iraqi Parliament’s National Security and Defense Committee has access to the photos of both planes that are British and have crashed while they were carrying weapons for the ISIL,” Head of the committee Hakem al-Zameli said, according to a Monday report of the Arabic-language information center of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.
He said the Iraqi parliament has asked London for explanations in this regard.
The senior Iraqi legislator further unveiled that the government in Baghdad is receiving daily reports from people and security forces in al-Anbar province on numerous flights by the US-led coalition planes that airdrop weapons and supplies for ISIL in terrorist-held areas.
The Iraqi lawmaker further noted the cause of such western aids to the terrorist group, and explained that the US prefers a chaotic situation in Anbar Province which is near the cities of Karbala and Baghdad as it does not want the ISIL crisis to come to an end.
Earlier today, a senior Iraqi provincial official lashed out at the western countries and their regional allies for supporting Takfiri terrorists in Iraq, revealing that US and Israeli-made weapons have been discovered from the areas purged of ISIL terrorists.
“We have discovered weapons made in the US, European countries and Israel from the areas liberated from ISIL’s control in Al-Baqdadi region,” the Al-Ahad news website quoted Head of Al-Anbar Provincial Council Khalaf Tarmouz as saying.
He noted that the weapons made by the European countries and Israel were discovered from the terrorists in the Eastern parts of the city of Ramadi.
Al-Zameli had also disclosed in January that the anti-ISIL coalition’s planes have dropped weapons and foodstuff for the ISIL in Salahuddin, Al-Anbar and Diyala provinces.
Al-Zameli underlined that the coalition is the main cause of ISIL’s survival in Iraq.
“There are proofs and evidence for the US-led coalition’s military aid to ISIL terrorists through air(dropped cargoes),” he told FNA in January.
He noted that the members of his committee have already proved that the US planes have dropped advanced weaponry, including anti-aircraft weapons, for the ISIL, and that it has set up an investigation committee to probe into the matter.
“The US drops weapons for the ISIL on the excuse of not knowing about the whereabouts of the ISIL positions and it is trying to distort the reality with its allegations.
He noted that the committee had collected the data and the evidence provided by eyewitnesses, including Iraqi army officers and the popular forces, and said, “These documents are given to the investigation committee … and the necessary measures will be taken to protect the Iraqi airspace.”
Also in January, another senior Iraqi legislator reiterated that the US-led coalition is the main cause of ISIL’s survival in Iraq.
“The international coalition is only an excuse for protecting the ISIL and helping the terrorist group with equipment and weapons,” Jome Divan, who is member of the al-Sadr bloc in the Iraqi parliament, said.
He said the coalition’s support for the ISIL is now evident to everyone, and continued, “The coalition has not targeted ISIL’s main positions in Iraq.”
In late December, Iraqi Parliamentary Security and Defense Commission MP disclosed that a US plane supplied the ISIL terrorist organization with arms and ammunition in Salahuddin province.
MP Majid al-Gharawi stated that the available information pointed out that US planes are supplying ISIL organization, not only in Salahuddin province, but also other provinces, Iraq TradeLink reported.
He added that the US and the international coalition are “not serious in fighting against the ISIL organization, because they have the technological power to determine the presence of ISIL gunmen and destroy them in one month”.
Gharawi added that “the US is trying to expand the time of the war against the ISIL to get guarantees from the Iraqi government to have its bases in Mosul and Anbar provinces.”
Salahuddin security commission also disclosed that “unknown planes threw arms and ammunition to the ISIL gunmen Southeast of Tikrit city”.
Also in Late December, a senior Iraqi lawmaker raised doubts about the seriousness of the anti-ISIL coalition led by the US, and said that the terrorist group still received aids dropped by unidentified aircraft.
“The international coalition is not serious about air strikes on ISIL terrorists and is even seeking to take out the popular (voluntary) forces from the battlefield against the Takfiris so that the problem with ISIL remains unsolved in the near future,” Nahlah al-Hababi told FNA.
“The ISIL terrorists are still receiving aids from unidentified fighter jets in Iraq and Syria,” she added.
Hababi said that the coalition’s precise airstrikes are launched only in those areas where the Kurdish Pishmarga forces are present, while military strikes in other regions are not so much precise.
In late December, the US-led coalition dropped aids to the Takfiri militants in an area North of Baghdad.
Field sources in Iraq told al-Manar that the international coalition airplanes dropped aids to the terrorist militants in Balad, an area which lies in Salahuddin province North of Baghdad.
In October, a high-ranking Iranian commander also slammed the US for providing aid supplies to ISIL, adding that the US claims that the weapons were mistakenly airdropped to ISIL were untrue.
“The US and the so-called anti-ISIL coalition claim that they have launched a campaign against this terrorist and criminal group – while supplying them with weapons, food and medicine in Jalawla region (a town in Diyala Governorate, Iraq). This explicitly displays the falsity of the coalition’s and the US’ claims,” Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said.
The US claimed that it had airdropped weapons and medical aid to Kurdish fighters confronting the ISIL in Kobani, near the Turkish border in Northern Syria.
The US Defense Department said that it had airdropped 28 bundles of weapons and supplies, but one of them did not make it into the hands of the Kurdish fighters.
Video footage later showed that some of the weapons that the US airdropped were taken by ISIL militants.
The Iranian commander insisted that the US had the necessary intelligence about ISIL’s deployment in the region and that their claims to have mistakenly airdropped weapons to them are as unlikely as they are untrue.
by Elvis » Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:35 pm
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/three-nyc-men-accused-planning-wage-jihad-isis-are-arrested-n312666
Three NYC Men Accused of Planning to Wage Jihad for ISIS Are Arrested
Three men from Brooklyn, New York, were arrested on Wednesday and accused of plotting to wage jihad for ISIS. One of the men had offered to kill President Barack Obama if the militants asked him to, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn identified the men as Abdurasul Juraboev, 24, Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, and Abror Habibov, 30. Juraboev and Habibov are Uzbek citizens, and Saidakhmetov is a citizen of Kazakhstan, the prosecutors said.
Juraboev and Saidakhmetov plotted to travel to Turkey and then to Syria to wage jihad, and Habibov helped pay for the plan, the prosecutors said. Saidakhmetov was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he tried to board a flight to Istanbul.
"Anyone who threatens our citizens and our allies, here or abroad, will face the full force of American justice," said Loretta Lynch, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn.
All three were charged with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS. Each faces up to 15 years in prison.
Juraboev and Saidakhmetov were due in court in Brooklyn later in the day. Habibov appeared in court in Jacksonville, Florida, and was given a court date of March 3, NBC affiliate WTLV reported.
Juraboev attracted the attention of law enforcement in August when he posted on a pro-ISIS website, the prosecutors said. In the posting, he offered to kill Obama if ISIS asked him to, they said. His plans also included planting a bomb on Coney Island, the FBI said.
In the posting, Juraboev wondered what he might do while still in the United States, according to a criminal complaint: "What I'm saying is, to shoot Obama and then got shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels."
Saidakhmetov expressed an intention to shoot police officers and FBI agents if he couldn't join ISIS in Syria, the prosecutors said.
"We treat that very seriously," Commissioner Bill Bratton of the New York police said of the alleged potential U.S. attacks. "This is real."
Juraboev and Saidakhmetov were identified as legal permanent residents of the United States. Habibov had overstayed a visa, New York police said. He runs kiosks in several states that sell kitchenware and repair cellphones, according to the criminal complaint.
As NBC News reported in October, social media is increasingly important both as a recruiting tool for terrorist groups and as a way for the FBI to stop would-be jihadis.
----------
IN-DEPTH
No LOL Matter: FBI Trolls Social Media for Would-Be Jihadis
[ http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-t ... is-n226841 ]
----------
SOCIAL
FBI New York ✔ @NewYorkFBI
Follow
Juraboev plans for a terror attack included attacks against President Obama or planting a bomb on Coney Island
9:45 AM - 25 Feb 2015
FBI New York ✔ @NewYorkFBI
Follow
A different defendant, Saidakhmetov, expressed his intent to buy a machine gun and shoot police officers and FBI agents
9:51 AM - 25 Feb 2015
----------
This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.
— Pete Williams and Jonathan Dienst
First published February 25th 2015, 9:29 am
by Iamwhomiam » Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:15 pm
by psynapz » Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:56 pm
stillrobertpaulsen » Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:24 pm wrote:Nordic » Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:12 pm wrote:Would love to find a second, corroborating source for this.
http://www.hangthebankers.com/iraqi-arm ... s-to-isis/Iraqi army downs 2 UK planes delivering weapons to ISIS
I believe this is a second source.Iraqi Army Downs Two British Planes Carrying Weapons for ISIL Terrorists
al-Anbar province: numerous flights by US-led coalition planes airdrop weapons and supplies for ISIL in terrorist-held areas.
GR editor’s Note
There are no reports in the Western mainstream media pertaining to this issue.
This report is based on statements emanating from the Iraq parliament, with photographic evidence. We have not been in a position to corroborate this report by FARS News.
Iraq’s army has shot down two British planes as they were carrying weapons for the ISIL terrorists in Al-Anbar province, a senior lawmaker disclosed on Monday.
by 82_28 » Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:08 pm
by 82_28 » Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:17 pm
by semper occultus » Thu Feb 26, 2015 8:12 am
by Elvis » Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:03 am
semper occultus wrote:UK man behind Isis beheadings named as Mohammed Emwazi
Emwazi, a 26-year-old west Londoner and university graduate, was given the monicker ‘Jihadi John’ by a group of his hostages
seemslikeadream » Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:53 pm wrote:Rapper identified as James Foley's executioner: reports
Date
August 24, 2014 - 11:54PM
Key suspect: Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary who raps under the name Lyricist Jinn Matic.
Key suspect: Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary who raps under the name Lyricist Jinn Matic. Photo: YouTube
British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 have identified the man suspected of the horrific beheading of American journalist James Foley, according to UK media reports.
The hooded man with an English accent is believed to be 23-year-old Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, known to fellow Islamic State militants as Jihadi John.
The former rapper left his family home in an affluent west London suburb last year to fight in the civil war in Syria.
Murdered: American journalist James Foley.
Murdered: American journalist James Foley. Photo: AP
In early August he tweeted a photo of himself wearing military camouflage and a black hood, while holding a severed head in his left hand.
British SAS forces are hunting Mr Foley's killers, using a range of high-tech equipment to track him down and potentially free other hostages.
The Mail on Sunday is reporting that a "significant force" of SAS personnel has been deployed to northern Iraq over the past two days, joining local units fighting IS. They have fanned out into four-man teams, accompanying Iraqi and Kurdish troops in an effort to find British jihadis.
The Sunday Times reports that Bary is the key focus of the man hunt. He is one of the British jihadists former hostages referred to as the Beatles because of their British accents. The two others were called "George" and "Ringo".
The two other Britons suspected of involvement in the crime are Aine Davis, a former drug dealer who converted to Islam, and Razul Islam, who is believed to have joined the terrorist group that murdered Mr Foley.
Bary is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trial on terrorism in Manhattan, due to his alleged involvement in the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Before leaving the family home to fight in Syria, Bary was an aspiring rapper known as L Jinny whose music was played on one of the UK's most popular radio stations, BBC Radio 1.
Recordings of his songs will prove vital to the investigating team, with experts using voice recognition technology to match his voice with that of the man who brutally decapitated Mr Foley.
Bary made a number of music videos for his songs, with titles such as Flying High, Dreamer and Overdose.
It is believed he was indoctrinated by an Islamic preacher named Anjem Choudary who persuaded him to join the fight in Syria.UK spies identify Foley’s killer, Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary a key suspect
MARK HOOKHAM AND RICHARD KERBAJ THE TIMES AUGUST 25, 2014 12:00AM
Shia children, displaced when Islamic State took control of Mosul, at the Bhrka camp 10kmShia children, displaced when Islamic State took control of Mosul, at the Bhrka camp 10km west of Irbil yesterday. Source: AFP < PrevNext >
••••
THE spy agencies MI5 and MI6 have identified the British fighter suspected of murdering the US journalist James Foley, British government sources confirmed yesterday.
The masked man with a London accent, who is said to be known as Jihadi John, was seen in the shocking video of Foley’s death released by the Islamic State extremist army last week.
While sources gave no details of the man they have identified, a key suspect is Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 23, who left his family’s £1 million ($1.78m) home in Maida Vale, west London, last year. He recently tweeted a picture of himself holding up a severed head.
The intelligence agencies and police estimate up to 20 British extremists a month are now travelling to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State. The rate has risen since Islamic State declared a “caliphate” eight weeks ago. US officials said America was considering carrying out drone strikes on Islamic State leaders in Syria as it steps up its activities in the country, and could also provide more help for moderate rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
Pentagon sources claimed President Barack Obama agonised for weeks over whether to authorise a mission to rescue Foley and other foreign hostages. Delta Force commandos finally launched the mission on July 4 but the hostages had been moved.
“They were ready to go in June to grab the guy and they weren’t permitted,” said Anthony Shaffer, a former lieutenant colonel who worked on covert operations.
Writing in The Sunday Times yesterday, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond accused Foley’s killer of “an utter betrayal” of everything the British people stand for. “It is horrifying to think that the perpetrator of this heinous act could have been brought up in Britain,” he wrote.
Mr Hammond said Foley’s death was “a reminder to us all that Islamic extremism in Iraq and Syria is not only causing huge suffering in those countries but is also a barbaric ideology threatening us at home”.
Unless Islamic State is stopped, “sooner or later they will seek to strike us on British soil”, he wrote.
The comments are the most explicit warning yet from a British cabinet minister about the risk of an attack against the country.
The British government, he wrote, was “investing significant resources to tackle this problem for the long term” and to disrupt Islamic State’s ability “to organise, raise funds and attack us here in Britain”.
While “we must support the overwhelming majority of British Muslims who are moderate, law-abiding people with values and morals we all share ... we should be in no doubt that we have a vital national interest in tackling the threat from Islamic State,” he said.
Government sources insisted that while the option of British air strikes on the jihadists remained on the table, they “are not being actively considered or proposed at this stage”.
Military planners are, however, drawing up plans to deploy scores of British troops to help train a “substantial” number of Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
Training will focus on the use of heavy weaponry such as artillery, mortars and Milan antitank weapons.
Sources said Britain was exploring the possibility of establishing training camps in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq and in Baghdad, although the high security risk meant the training could take place in Jordan or Britain instead.Jihadi John, James Foley’s Killer: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Published 1:44 pm EDT, August 24, 2014 Updated 2:04 pm EDT, August 24, 2014 Comment By Sam Prince 1.6k
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary of England is alleged to be the killer of American journalist James Foley, according to be British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6. Here’s what you need to know.
1. He is a British Rapper
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, better known by his rap name Jinn Matic, is 23-years-old and was raised in a rich west London suburb called Maida Vale. His childhood home is reportedly worth more than 1-million pounds.
Above is a rap video of his titled Still Here.
His music was popular and was even played on BBC Radio 1, one of the top radio stations in England.
2. He Left for Syria Last Year
(Twitter)
(Twitter)
Bary left for Syria last year to fight in the civil war.
His twitter account has been suspended, but according to the Sydney Morning Herald:
In early August he tweeted a photo of himself wearing military camouflage and a black hood, while holding a severed head in his left hand.
3. MI5 & MI6 Identified him as Foley’s Killer
According to the Sunday Times:
MI5 and MI6 have identified the British fighter suspected of murdering the American journalist James Foley, senior government sources confirmed last night.
The masked man with a London accent, who is said to be known to fellow fighters as “Jihadi John”, was seen in the shocking video of Foley’s death released by the Isis extremist army last week.
Jihadi John was then identified as Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary.
The case being built against him used the execution video of Foley and matched his executioner’s speaking voice to various YouTube rap videos of Bary’s.
4. He is the Son of Another Suspected Terrorist
Bary’s father is currently on trial in New York City.
The Sydney Morning Herald further reports:
Bary is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trial on terrorism in Manhattan, due to his alleged involvement in the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Accordingly, MI5 and 6 have deployed agents into ISIS-held territory to hunt down the alleged second generation terrorist. The Daily Mail reports:
British Special Forces hunting the killer of James Foley are using an array of sophisticated equipment to track him down – and possibly free other hostages being held.
The Mail on Sunday has been told that in the past 48 hours a ‘significant force’ of SAS soldiers and signallers have deployed to northern Iraq, joining Iraqi and Kurdish units fighting IS.
They have separated into four-man teams and are accompanying local troops in an attempt to capture British jihadis, identify them and establish links to Jihadi John.
5. Anjem Choudary Allegedly Persuaded him to Fight in Syria
According to Wikipedia, Anjem Choudary is:
Anjem Choudary is a British Muslim social and political activist.
Choudary has ties to terrorist organizations and has referred to the terrorists who orchestrated 9/11 as “magnificent martyrs.”
It is believed that Choudary encouraged Bary to go fight in Syria.
by Elvis » Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:59 am
12.14 The telegraph's Richard Spencer reports:
Identification of Mohammed Emwazi as "Jihadi John" means it is not the British-born rapper, Abdel-Majid Abdel Bary, who was once suspected of being the killer-propagandist.
Abdel Bary's route to radicalisation was easily traced, in the lyrics of the songs he performed as L Jinny, as he became disillusioned with a drug-fuelled lifestyle on London's streets.
His father, Adel Abdel Bary, was one of Britain's best-known jihadist sympathisers, who came to London in exile from his native Egypt. He spent 13 years in jail awaiting extradition to the United States, where he was accused of links to the 1998 embassy bombings by al-Qaeda, and where he made a plea bargain and was sentenced to 25 years in jail this month.
Abdel Bary's role as a jihadist in Syria is not in doubt, however - he tweeted a picture of himself holding the severed head of a prisoner in Raqqa, Syria, saying: "Chillin' with my homie or what's left of him".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -live.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/11399596/Father-of-one-time-Jihadi-John-suspect-is-jailed-in-US-over-Africa-embassy-bombings.html
Father of one-time Jihadi John suspect is jailed in US over Africa embassy bombings
Osama bin Laden's former London spokesman, whose son was a British music rapper before joining Isil, is given 25-year sentence
By Agencies
2:36AM GMT 09 Feb 2015
An Egyptian man was sentenced to 25 years in an American prison on Friday for conspiring to kill Americans in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa, which left 224 people dead.
Adel Abdel Bary - who was extradited to the United States from Britain in 2012 - pleaded guilty last September on three counts of working for al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Bary's son, former London rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, is believed to have joined extremists fighting in Syria and was for a time one of the men suspected of posing as "Jihadi John", the masked killed who has appeared in videos showing the decapitations of aid workers and journalists.
In 1997 and 1998, Bary headed the London cell of Egyptian Islamic Jihad - then led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is now head of al-Qaeda - and the two groups essentially merged.
Bary passed to journalists al-Qaeda's claim of responsibility for the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which left more than 5,000 others wounded.
He also passed on threats of future al-Qaeda attacks that were sent from London to media organisations in France, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates the day after the embassy bombings.
The August 7, 1998 car bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi killed 213 people.
A near simultaneous truck bomb outside the US mission in Tanzania killed 11 people and wounded 70 more.
Federal judge Lewis Kaplan told Bary that the sentence would allow him to return to his family and live out the remainder of his life in freedom, a privilege not extended to his victims.
Bary has already spent 16 years in British and US custody.
"I would like to say I feel sorry for all the victims," he told the judge, speaking through a translator.
"If I could just do something to bring the victims back, I would," he added.
By pleading guilty, Bary avoided spending the rest of his life behind bars.
His alleged co-conspirator - Saudi exile Khalid al-Fawwaz, the purported chief of the London al-Qaeda cell - is currently on trial in New York.
A third co-conspirator, Libyan defendant Abu Anas al-Libi, died in custody last month from natural causes.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/20/wife-of-alqaida-terrorist-suspect
Life as the spouse of a suspected al-Qaida terrorist
What's it like being married to a man who has spent 13 years in UK prisons fighting deportation to the US on terrorism charges – and seeing him finally lose that battle? In an extract from Victoria Brittain's book, Ragaa, the wife of Adel Abdul Bary, tells of the prison visits, the battles with bureaucracy and the struggles to raise a family under extraordinary pressures
Victoria Brittain
Wednesday 20 February 2013 13.40 EST
[ . . . ]
Eventually Adel left for the US, and then later the UK. He had finished his degree in prison and was soon a well-known human-rights lawyer; he had strong contacts with Amnesty International in those years when arrests in Egypt of suspected opposition figures were in the thousands. In 1990, Adel gained refugee status in the UK, three years after he had arrived. Ragaa and the children joined him, and for five years they lived a quiet family life in London. Ragaa spoke little English, only went out occasionally, always with her husband and his friends and their wives. "He did everything, everything, for me and the kids here in London," she says. "And I was happy because he was with me, playing with the kids, taking us to the park – it was the normal life we never had in Egypt."
In the summer of 1998, al-Qaida blew up the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 220 people and wounding nearly 5,000. It ended that normal life in London. There was a dawn raid by British police in white contamination suits, brandishing truncheons and breaking down the front door. Ragaa and the children were traumatised. A dozen or so men were suddenly in their bedrooms, shouting for her husband, searching the children's clothes, tearing out pages from any books with telephone numbers.
Adel was led away, and Ragaa, hurriedly putting on her black hijab and abaya, was told to get into a bus with her five children, one of whom was a small baby. They were taken to a hotel where they stayed in their room for three or four days, without any information about why they were there, or how long it would be. She did not know how to phone her family in Egypt, and felt desperate and alone.
When they were finally taken home, she found her house upside down, drawers open, the front door broken and a metal gate across it. "I had absolutely no idea what to do – he was the one who always knew everything," she says. After five days, however, her husband came home and family life resumed, without him discussing what had happened.
The British police found there was no terrorism case to charge Abdul Bary with. He was charged with possession of gas canisters, bailed, and then acquitted in a jury trial. (An official letter from the anti-terrorism police at the time stated that after nine months of exhaustive investigation, they found that he and the other Egyptian men arrested with him had no connection with al-Qaida, nor any connection with terrorism in Britain.)
However, six months later, Ragaa more than once noticed someone who seemed to be following them. Her old anxiety from the Cairo years flooded back. Her husband reported what she'd seen to the police. A week later he was rearrested. His extradition was requested by the US on exactly the same evidence dismissed in Britain the previous year. It had been sent by the UK to the US as part of the great fishing net of shared intelligence in the war on terror. His lawyers began to fight the extradition in a process that soon took on the character of Dickens's Jarndyce v Jarndyce in Bleak House.
An entire roomful of documentation built up. The committal papers from the US amounted to more than a dozen ring binders of documents, mostly in Arabic. Between 2002 and 2008, successive UK secretaries of state spent six years coming to a decision to extradite him. Representations for judicial reviews and appeals were made by his lawyers, including several medical reports, which over the years warned of his serious depression and risk of suicide in prison.
[much more at link]
by seemslikeadream » Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:04 am
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
ISIS Online
A Pretext for Cyber COINTELPRO?
by ERIC DRAITSER
In its ever expanding war against Syria, now under the broader pretext of “fighting ISIS,” the US Government has employed a variety of tactics. From arming terrorists whom it dishonestly labels “moderates,” to encouraging Turkey and Jordan to host jihadi training centers, to the CIA working with the Muslim Brotherhood to funnel weapons and fighters into Syria, the US and its allies have demonstrated the multi-faceted approach they’re taking to fighting ISIS, extremism, and the Syrian Government.
The war, once believed to be relegated solely to Syria and Iraq, has now been broadened to a regional, and indeed, a global war with no geographical boundaries or time limits. And now, the Obama administration has announced that its war will also be waged in cyberspace. As the NY Times reported:
At the heart of the plan is expanding a tiny State Department agency, the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, to harness all the existing attempts at countermessaging by much larger federal departments, including the Pentagon, Homeland Security and intelligence agencies. The center would also coordinate and amplify similar messaging by foreign allies and nongovernment agencies, as well as by prominent Muslim academics, community leaders and religious scholars who oppose the Islamic State.
While the use of social media and other online platforms is nothing new, the coordinated nature of the program demonstrates the broader capacity the US State Department and intelligence agencies are going to employ in penetrating cyberspace to, in theory, counter ISIS and other extremists groups’ propaganda. But is this all they’ll be doing? There is good reason to doubt the seemingly innocuous sounding mission of the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC).
Countermessaging or Counterintelligence?
It is clear that the US Government is actively going to expand its social media and cyberspace presence vis-à-vis online extremism. According to the expressly stated goal, the CSCC is intended to:
…coordinate, orient, and inform government-wide foreign communications activities targeted against terrorism and violent extremism… CSCC is comprised of three interactive components. The integrated analysis component leverages the Intelligence Community and other substantive experts to ensure CSCC communicators benefit from the best information and analysis available. The plans and operations component draws on this input to devise effective ways to counter the terrorist narrative. The Digital Outreach Team actively and openly engages in Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, and Somali.
Although the description makes the program seem harmless enough, a close reading should raise very serious questions about just what exactly the CSCC will be involved in. The so called “integrated analysis” and “plans and operations” components provide an ambiguously worded description of collaboration with US intelligence agencies – CIA, DIA, DHS, and NSA undoubtedly among them. These agencies, aside from gathering intelligence and performing surveillance in every corner of the globe, are also involved in everything from espionage to “black ops” and “dirty ops” and other shadowy activities.
In effect, the CSCC will act in concert with these agencies both in the realm of information and activity. Does anyone seriously doubt, especially in light of the Snowden revelations about the all-encompassing nature of US surveillance and counterintelligence capabilities, that ultimately part of the CSCC’s responsibilities will be to act as a de facto arm of US intelligence in the cyberspace realm, with specific attention to global hotspots such as Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Libya etc.?
As for the so called “Digital Outreach Team,” it could rightly be described as a cyberwar unit, one that will be able to operate both openly and anonymously in a variety of capacities online. And therein lay the danger. As Richard Stengel, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs told the Times, “[CSCC] would use more than 350 State Department Twitter accounts, combining embassies, consulates, media hubs, bureaus and individuals, as well as similar accounts operated by the Pentagon, the Homeland Security Department and foreign allies.” Now of course, if this much has been admitted publicly, there is undoubtedly a much larger cyber capacity being developed covertly. The question then becomes: how will this capacity be used?
If history is any indicator, then activists, political radicals, dissidents, and many others will be targeted online. The revelations about COINTELPRO documented by the Church Committee demonstrated the way in which “intelligence gathering” becomes counterintelligence with all the attendant repression, subversion, entrapment, and more. As William C. Sullivan, former head of the FBI’s intelligence operations was quoted in the Church Committee report:
This is a rough, tough, dirty business, and dangerous. It was dangerous at times. No holds were barred… We have used [these techniques] against Soviet agents. They have used [them] against us… [The same methods were] brought home against any organization against which we were targeted. We did not differentiate. This is a rough, tough business.
Sullivan quite bluntly explained how the line between foreign and domestic counterintelligence became completely blurred as the repression of political radicals became equated with fighting the Cold War. Of course, anyone seriously examining today’s world cannot help but draw parallels between the aggressive rhetoric about the Soviet threat during the Cold War, and that around the “terrorist threat” of “radical Islam” today. It would be folly to think that, in light of the exponentially more powerful and all-encompassing surveillance architecture (to say nothing of the draconian laws such as the PATRIOT Act, National Defense Authorization Act, etc.), the government would not employ similar, and perhaps more severe and repressive, tactics today against any individuals and groups challenging dominant narratives, organizing antiwar/anti-imperialist activities, building economic and political alternatives, and much more.
It’s Happened Before, It’ll Happen Again
It should come as no surprise that there is a voluminous documented record of online information manipulation and propaganda designed to achieve political ends. Recent examples specific to the war on Syria are endlessly instructive about some of the tactics one should be prepared for.
A recent example of the sort of social media disinformation that has been (and will continue to be) employed in the war on Syria/ISIS came in December 2014 when a prominent “ISIS twitter propagandist” known as Shami Witness (@ShamiWitness) was exposed as a man named “Mehdi,” described as “an advertising executive” based in Bangalore, India. @ShamiWitness had been cited as an authoritative source – a veritable “wealth of information” – about ISIS and Syria by corporate media outfits, as well as ostensibly “reliable and independent” bloggers such as the ubiquitous Eliot Higgins (aka Brown Moses) who cited Shami repeatedly. Conveniently enough, once exposed, Mehdi’s identity has been withheld from investigators, and he has since disappeared from public view. While it is impossible to say for certain exactly who Mehdi is, the significant point here is that this is a prime example of how social media is used to manipulate and frame false narratives, and to bolster threats and propaganda that serves particular interests.
In early 2011, as the war on Syria was just beginning, and many in the West especially were still harboring the delusion of an “Arab Spring uprising,” a blogger then known only as the “Gay Girl in Damascus” rose to prominence as a key source of information and analysis about the situation in Syria. Corporate news outlets such as The Guardian lauded her as “an unlikely hero of revolt” who “is capturing the imagination of the Syrian opposition with a blog that has shot to prominence as the protest movement struggles in the face of a brutal government crackdown.” However, by June of 2011, the “brutally honest Gay Girl” was exposed as a hoax, a complete fabrication concocted by one Tom MacMaster. Naturally, the same outlets that had been touting the “Gay Girl” as a legitimate source of information on Syria immediately backtracked and disavowed the blog. However, the one-sided narrative of brutal and criminal repression of peace-loving activists in Syria stuck. While the source was discredited, the narrative remained entrenched.
There are many other examples specific to the war in Syria, as was the case in Libya where dozens of twitter accounts purportedly from anti-Gaddafi Libyans mysteriously emerged in the lead-up to the war that toppled the Libyan government, providing much of the “intelligence” relayed on western media including CNN, NBC, and all the rest. It was at precisely that same moment (February 2011) that PC World ran a story headlined “Army of Fake Social Media Friends to Promote Propaganda” which noted that:
…the U.S. government contracted HBGary Federal for the development of software which could create multiple fake social media profiles to manipulate and sway public opinion on controversial issues by promoting propaganda. It could also be used as surveillance to find public opinions with points of view the powers-that-be didn’t like. It could then potentially have their “fake” people run smear campaigns against those “real” people.
Of course, if the story had already been broken by that point, one could rest assured that such programs were already long since being employed by US and other intelligence agencies for the purposes of achieving precisely what they achieved in Libya: the dissemination of disinformation for the purposes of constructing a false narrative to sway public opinion to support Washington’s agenda.
So, we know that US intelligence has the ability to create an endless supply of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. In light of this information, it is not terribly difficult to see the danger of allowing a centralized, intergovernmental “counterterrorism center” from engaging in an online spook war with the alleged threat of ISIS online. It is entirely plausible that this is yet another manufactured pretext for still further penetration of social media by US intelligence for the purposes of infiltrating and subverting online activists, independent journalists, and others.
Indeed, such activities would fit perfectly into the broader strategic imperative infamously articulated by Obama confidant, friend, and former head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Cass Sunstein. As Glenn Greenwald wrote in 2010:
[Sunstein] is responsible for “overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality [emphasis original], and statistical programs.” In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-”independent” advocates to “cognitively infiltrate” [emphasis original] online groups and websites… Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging.
This sort of “cognitive infiltration” is undoubtedly happening in myriad ways that still remain largely unknown. What can be said for certain though is that US intelligence agencies have both the tools and strategic vision to manufacture online threats such as the meme of “ISIS social media recruiting” in order to bolster their failing propaganda war, and to justify yet another unpopular war to the American people.
This wouldn’t be the first time that intelligence and law enforcement agencies have manufactured threats and/or entrapped alleged “terrorists” for the purposes of justifying the repressive apparatus of the police state, not to mention their own jobs.
State Sponsored Terror At Home
Just looking at the recent historical record, one begins to see an unmistakable pattern of terror plots concocted by the FBI and other agencies which they then portray themselves as having thwarted. In September 2011, the FBI allegedly foiled an “aerial bombing plot and attempts to deliver bomb-making materials for use against US troops in Iraq.” However, as the AFP article casually noted:
During the alleged plot, undercover FBI agents posed as accomplices who supplied Ferdaus with one remote-controlled plane, C4 explosives, and small arms that he allegedly envisioned using in a simultaneous ground assault in Washington. However, ”the public was never in danger from the explosive devices, which were controlled by undercover FBI employees,” the FBI said. Ferdaus was arrested in Framingham, near Boston, immediately after putting the newly delivered weapons into a storage container, the FBI said.
So, this alleged “terrorist” had neither the means nor the opportunity to carry out any plot at all, until the FBI became involved, supplying him with everything he needed, including actual explosives. They then high-fived each other for a job well done, foiling this dastardly plot. It would be comical if it weren’t so utterly repugnant.
Similarly, in 2010 the FBI claimed to have stopped a terrorist operation in Oregon – the insidious “Christmas Tree Bomber” – who likewise was supplied with the explosives, not to mention training, by the FBI themselves. In 2012, the FBI claimed to have thwarted a suicide bomb attack on the US Capitol. Conveniently buried in the story however is the fact that the explosives and technical expertise were all provided by the bureau’s undercover operatives.
There are literally a dozen or more other incidents that one could point to where US Government agencies have been intimately involved in planning, and then “foiling,” terrorist operations. The point is not to allege some grand conspiracy, but rather to illustrate the documented history of manipulation and fabrication of threats – both real and imagined – for the purposes of justifying the military-industrial-intelligence-surveillance complex.
If such agencies have proven countless times that they have the wherewithal and determination to carry out such operations, why should we believe that today is any different?
It is clear that the government has hyped threats against the US for a variety of reasons. So too is this story of ISIS and social media being hyped for a specific agenda – to legitimize the creation of yet another shadowy COINTELPRO-style interagency unit that will further entrench US intelligence in cyberspace, especially in social media.
How will you know if that Instagram picture of an ISIS member holding a cute kitten is authentic, or is simply a government-controlled troll, a fake identity created by some guy in a room in Virgina? How will you know if those young British-Saudis holding jars of Nutella in front of an ISIS flag are who they are alleged to be? How will you know if any of what you’re seeing on Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere else is real at all?
You won’t know for sure. And that is precisely the point.
Eric Draitser is the founder of StopImperialism.org. He is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City. You can reach him at ericdraitser@gmail.com.
by semper occultus » Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:02 pm
The college of economics and business where Soraya studied was not closed. Isis did make a number of changes, such as segregating students by gender and driving away almost all the female staff. In November 2014, Soraya quit her studies after a female Isis police officer threatened to bite her hand for taking off her regulation gloves during an exam – with the gloves on, Soraya’s pen kept slipping while she tried to write.
Biting is common – one of Soraya’s friends needed three stitches on her right hand when she was bitten – and students say Isis’s female police wear a steel fitting in their mouths with jagged fangs to make their bite particularly sharp.
by stillrobertpaulsen » Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:22 pm
psynapz » Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:56 pm wrote:Thanks for the effort Bob, but the first line of both articles are identical, so I think we're still seeking a second source on this one. Holy shit, I hope we find it.
by Nordic » Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:58 pm
by zangtang » Fri Feb 27, 2015 12:37 am
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 49 guests
