Al Qaeda-Related and Other Articles Collected 51112

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Al Qaeda-Related and Other Articles,Collected 5/11/12

Table of Contents

1.1. Summary

1.2. US

1.2.1. Cases1.2.1.1. Airplane Security Debated Anew After Latest Bombing Plot1.2.1.2. Faisal Shahzad 'Blended In' Until He Quit Job, Returned ToPakistan

1.2.2. Bomb Threats Halt 2 Southwest Flights from Orange County

1.3. Europe1.3.1. Shoe-Thrower Interrupts Breivik Trial1.3.2. Germany Sees Rise in Crimes With Political or Racist Motives1.3.3. Britain: Radical Cleric Faces Setback in Court Over Efforts to DeportHim

1.4. Middle East

1.4.1. Yemen

1.4.1.1. Foiled Plot1.4.1.1.1. Long-Running Antiterrorism Work With Saudis Led to Airline Plots Failure1.4.1.1.2. Double Agent Disrupted Bombing Plot, U.S. Says1.4.1.1.3. Qaeda Plot to Attack Plane Foiled, U.S. Officials Say1.4.1.2. Yemen: Airstrikes Kill 7 Militants

1.4.2. Syria1.4.2.1. Analysis: Israel Frets on Sideline as Fall of Assad Delayed1.4.2.2. Dozens Killed in Large Explosions in Syrian Capital

1.5. Asia

1.5.1. Afghanistan1.5.1.1. NATO Soldier Killed by Assailant in Afghan Army Uniform

1.5.1.2. Parents of P.O.W. Reveal U.S. Talks on Taliban Swap1.5.1.3. Afghan Police In Spotlight After Foiling Taliban Strike1.5.1.5. Pentagon Stresses Efforts to Recover U.S. Soldier Being Held inAfghanistan

Al Qaeda-Related and Other Articles, Collected 5/11/12--- file:///C:/Documents and Settings/home/Desktop/DO...

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1.5.2. Pakistan1.5.2.1. How Pakistan Lets Terrorism Fester1.5.2.2. Clinton Presses Pakistan to Do More to Stamp Out Terrorism

1.1. Summary(back)

1.2. US (back)

1.2.1. Cases (back)

1.2.1.1. Airplane Security Debated Anew After Latest Bombing Plot(back)May 10, 2012Airplane Security Debated Anew After Latest Bombing PlotBy MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and RON NIXON

WASHINGTON The latest attempt by Al Qaeda to make an underwearbomb designed to be detonated on a plane headed to the United States hasset off a fierce debate among security officials in Washington and theircritics in Congress about whether the current measures to protect airlinerswould have detected the bomb.

The debate has centered largely on the belief among officials of theDepartment of Homeland Security and the Transportation SecurityAdministration that their so-called multilayered approach to security wouldhave stopped such an attack.

The current approach includes increased sharing of intelligence andboarding pass information, the widespread use of body scanners, officersmonitoring human behavior in airports and closer relationships with airportofficials around the world.

Many of the measures evolved after a Qaeda operative tried to detonate anunderwear bomb on a flight bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, and havebeen the most significant changes to airport security since the terroristattacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Quite frankly, I think the likelihood is high that he or she or whatever thedevice was would have been picked up through the screening abroad at thelast point of departure, based on what we have in place in those locationsand the partnerships we have, said a high-ranking official at theDepartment of Homeland Security, which oversees the T.S.A.

The official, speaking anonymously because he did not want to be identifieddiscussing security matters, said, What I can tell you is that if the systemsthat are in place today were in place on Christmas Day 2009, he neverwould have been allowed to board a plane to the United States.

Members of Congress and other critics, however, remain deeply skeptical ofthe Homeland Security Department and the T.S.A. to keep airplanes safe.They contend that Al Qaedas latest attempt highlights shortcomings andweaknesses of the governments multilayered approach.


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They argue that too few scanners are being deployed in the United Statesand abroad, and that even those in place are not always used. Anothertroubling shortcoming, they say, is that the United States government haslittle authority over passenger screenings at foreign airports, where analystsbelieve a suicide bomber would be most likely to board an airplane headedto the United States. In fact, full-body scanners are rarely used in foreignairports.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Representative Darrell Issa, theCalifornia Republican who is the chairman of the House Oversight andGovernment Reform Committee, asked an investigator for the GovernmentAccountability Office if the body screening machines used by the T.S.A.could detect a nonmetallic underwear bomb, like the one that Al Qaeda hastried to use.

Just yesterday, Mr. Issa began, Janet Napolitano Secretary Napolitano said there is a high likelihood that Advanced Imaging Technology wouldhave detected the new sophisticated underwear bomb used in the recent or

attempted to be used in the recent plot in Yemen. Do you agree that thereis a high likelihood that advanced imaging would have caught the newbomb? he asked an auditor who had worked on an examination of theT.S.A.

Thats a very interesting question, said Stephen Lord, the director ofhomeland security and justice issues for the Government AccountabilityOffice. I would have great difficulty answering that in open sessions, Sir.Weve done a classified report.

Mr. Issa said: Well take that and Im going to predict that its going to be

no, they couldnt. But the actual answer will remain classified.

Kip Hawley, the head of the T.S.A. from 2005 to 2009, said that he believedthe current system would have detected the device.

The screening is vastly improved since 2009, Mr. Hawley said. Thequestion is whether the person would have gotten the bomb on, and wouldthe bomb have worked. On both of those I would say, No.

In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, President Obama said that

he was not surprised by Al Qaedas latest attempt. We are going to have tomaintain constant vigilance and create a whole series of layers of protectionand barriers, he said. And, you know, fortunately, what weve seen isconstant improvement on the part of our law enforcement, our military, ourintelligence officers that allows us to be able to prevent the kind of attackthat we just saw.

Representative John L. Mica, a Florida Republican who is chairman of theHouse Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and an ardent critic ofthe T.S.A., said in an interview on Thursday that the multilayered approachto screening is flawed at every level.

Metal detectors, he said, used a 1950s technology to find guns and knivesbut not explosives, which are the greatest threat to airline security.


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Mr. Mica also pointed to earlier G.A.O. reports that found that the T.S.A.had never scientifically validated its behavioral science techniques foridentifying people exhibiting signs in airports that might indicate a potentialthreat. He also said there had never been a cost-benefit analysis of thewidespread use of the techniques.

The programs ultimate failure, he said, is that it has not identified a singleknown terrorist.

A high school kid could put together a better project for finding people whopose a risk, Mr. Mica said.

Even as the T.S.A. has expanded the use of body scanners in the UnitedStates, it has searched for new ways of using a more risk-based approachto targeting specific groups of people who are more likely to pose a threatand focusing efforts on their movements.

As part of those efforts, the T.S.A. now allows apparently low-risk travelers

who volunteer background information ahead of time to go through specialscreening lanes without removing shoes, belts and coats. The program,called PreCheck, was begun last October, operates in 14 airports and isopen to preapproved passengers of three airlines: American, Delta andAlaska.

The T.S.A. has also started to allow passengers 75 years and older at fourairports to keep their shoes and light jackets on as they make their waythrough security, and they are not patted down.

A similar program was put in place last year for passengers 12 and

younger.

John H. Cushman Jr. contributed reporting.

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/world/americas/airplane-security-debated-after-latest-bombing-plot.html?pagewanted=print

1.2.1.2. Faisal Shahzad 'Blended In' Until He Quit Job, Returned To

Pakistan(back)

Times Square Bomb Scare

Faisal Shahzad 'Blended In' Until He Quit Job, Returned To PakistanShare1By DAVE ALTIMARI

The Hartford Courant

May 5, 2010For almost a decade, Faisal Shahzad's life in Connecticut was mundane. Heearned a business degree from the University of Bridgeport, started a familyand bought a three-bedroom home in the suburbs.


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Neighbors along Long Hill Avenue in Shelton, where Shahzad bought thehouse in July 2004, said he and his wife, Huma Mian, who had twochildren, kept mostly to themselves. They said that Shahzad often left inthe mornings wearing a suit and tie, and that Mian often walked their babydown the street.

RelatedTIMELINE: FAISAL SHAHZAD1998: Pakistani native moved to United States2000: Bachelor's degree, University of Bridgeport2004: Bought home on Long Hill Avenue in SheltonJuly 2009: Moved out of Shelton houseApril 24, 2010: Bought Pathfinder from Bridgeport womanMay 1, 2010: Bomb-laden SUV found in Times SquarePictures: Connecticut Man Charged In Failed Times Square Bombing

'I thought: 'OK, they're not into it,'' said Donna Achille, who lives across the

street. 'It's just odd. I cannot believe how well they blended in.'

On Tuesday, Shahzad, 30, was charged with terrorism and attempting touse a weapon of mass destruction on American soil.

The man that neighbors said they'd occasionally see jogging at nightwearing black has admitted to authorities that he received bomb-makingtraining in Pakistan, his homeland. He also has admitted trying to put thattraining to use in New York City on Saturday night, filling a 1993 NissanPathfinder he had bought on craigslist with fireworks, propane tanks andcans of gasoline and trying to set off an explosion in Times Square.

While Shahzad was being questioned by investigators, law enforcementofficials from the FBI and from the Bridgeport and New York City policedepartments combed through an apartment on Sheridan Street inBridgeport that is believed to be his last U.S. address. Forensic investigatorsremoved a box of fireworks and two bags of fertilizer found in the garage.

A law enforcement source said that Shahzad was armed during the periodbetween the aborted bombing attempt in Times Square and his arrestMonday, shortly before midnight, at John F. Kennedy International Airportin New York, where he was apprehended aboard a flight that was about totake off for Dubai. The Los Angeles Times, citing an FBI source, reportedthat Shahzad left two handguns in the car he drove to the airport.

College GraduateShahzad, who became a U.S. citizen in April 2009, was never in troublewith the law not even a speeding ticket. The U.S. Citizenship andImmigration Service, citing Shahzad's privacy rights as a U.S citizen, wouldnot disclose records associated with his naturalization application.

He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University ofBridgeport, finishing his MBA in 2005. He had transferred to Bridgeportfrom Southeastern University in Washington, D.C.

University of Bridgeport Provost Michael Spitzer said school officials have


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notified federal authorities of Shahzad's attendance.

'The university abhors acts of violence and terrorism,' Spitzer said in astatement. 'We work to combat racial and ethnic prejudices and animosity,and believe that education in an international context is the key tounderstanding the values and beliefs of people from other cultures.'

Shahzad took a job in June 2006 crunching internal financial numbers forAffinion Group in Norwalk, a $1.5-billion-a-year global marketing company.

'He was very entry-level,' said James Hart, a company spokesman. 'He wasin our financial organization, which does what any financial organizationdoes it takes a look at the business results. It analyzes them with respectto what the budget was, what the forecast was.'

Hart said that Shahzad worked with raw data and did not interact withclients or see personal or proprietary information. Shahzad left thecompany voluntarily in June 2009 about the same time he stopped

making payments on his mortgage.

Hart said that Affinion, which has since moved its main offices to Stamford,was not the sponsoring company for Shahzad's work visa.

'We just did the verification that he had all the proper documentation apermanent resident card and that he was authorized to work here,' Hartsaid. 'But he came to us with that already. So there's got to be somebodyelse out there who had employed him who had provided that.'

Hart said there was nothing extraordinary about Shahzad's three years with

the firm.

'He was working on kind of the nuts and bolts, the tactical stuff.Unglamorous, I would go so far as to say,' Hart said. 'So he was just comingin and doing his job and leaving.'

'Below The Radar'In 2000, public records show, Shahzad was living at an address inBridgeport. His Social Security number indicates that it was issued in

Connecticut between 1998 and 2001, when Shahzad would have been inhis late teens or early 20s.

He bought the three-bedroom house at 119 Long Hill Ave. in Shelton in July2004 from J&D Country Builders for $273,000, paying more than $50,000in cash and financing the rest with a mortgage from Chase Manhattanbank, records show. Three years later, he granted an interest in theproperty to Mian.

Achille, the neighbor, said she never knew the couple very well. But shehad no reason to be suspicious, she said; they seemed like any family from

a foreign country trying to make a new life in America.

'They were just really below the radar,' she said.


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The wife wore traditional clothes from the Middle East that covered much ofher body, but not her face, Achille said. She would walk a baby girl up anddown the street, she said.

The man wore American clothes and came and went like any working dad,she said.

Next-door neighbor Brenda Thurman said that her 10-year-old daughterAsia would play with Shahzad's 4-year-old daughter, and that she wasfriendly with the family. Thurman said the couple also had a son, born inPakistan in 2008.

When Thurman and Shahzad's daughter played, she didn't say much toShahzad's wife. Mian indicated that she didn't speak English and the twowould communicate by hand signals or through Shahzad. After Shahzadleft, about a month before the family disappeared last July, Thurman saidshe learned that Shahzad's wife spoke English well.

After Shahzad left early last summer, Mian began to sell off the family'spossessions. She sold items through craigslist, Thurman said, and held twotag sales.

About that time, Mian gave Thurman's daughter a box full of bracelets thatshe said had come from their native Pakistan. Asia wore the bracelets andliked them, but Thurman said she is troubled by their source.

'She won't wear them anymore,' Thurman said. 'I won't let her.'

In the backyard of Shahzad's house Tuesday afternoon, rain-soaked bills

and personal records were strewn about, and yard equipment stoodunused.

Financial WoesNeighbors said the family hasn't lived in the Shelton house for months,even though they still are the owners of record.

Chase filed a foreclosure suit on Sept. 13, 2009, after Shahzad missed fourmortgage payments dating to June 2009. The suit said that Shahzad owed

just over $200,000. With late charges and interest, the bank said last weekthat Shahzad owed a total of more than $212,000.

Shahzad was trying to sell the house himself, listing it on House Boom, awebsite on which people can list their homes for free. The ad lists the houseat $299,000 and says the price has been reduced. It gives the reason forselling as 'moving to another state.'

Neither Shahzad nor Mian responded to the foreclosure lawsuit.

In January 2009, Shahzad took out a $65,000 second mortgage with

Wachovia Bank. The status of that mortgage is unknown, but Wachovia hasno actions against Shahzad in state court and did not file an appearance inthe Chase foreclosure.


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The foreclosure case is pending at Superior Court in Milford.

There are no records showing the family ever moved to Missouri. Authoritieshave said that Shahzad returned to Pakistan in July 2009 and came backto the United States three weeks later.

Shahzad's last trip to Pakistan was in February 2010. When he returned hewas stopped by airport security. He told them he had been visiting hisparents in Pakistan for five months and was returning to Connecticut,where he planned to stay in a hotel and look for a job. He told theauthorities his wife had stayed behind in Pakistan.

Instead of a hotel, Shahzad moved into the three-story home on SheridenStreet in Bridgeport, sharing it with a roommate, authorities said.

'Person Of Interest'In late April of this year, Shahzad contacted a Bridgeport teenager about

buying a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder she was trying to sell on craigslist.Sources said that contact eventually led authorities to Shahzad after theaborted bombing attempt because he used a prepaid cellphone to make thetransaction.

Sources familiar with the investigation said that the gray SUV was ownedby Peggy Colas, 19, of Bridgeport. She agreed to meet Shahzad on April 24in a nearby supermarket parking lot so he could see the car. When theymet, she told him the car had some mechanical issues but he never lookedunder the hood, only in the back of the vehicle, the sources said. The sameafternoon, they met again and went for a test drive.

Shahzad agreed to pay her $1,300, all in $100 bills. When a person whowas with Colas started drafting a bill of sale, Shahzad told him 'he had hisown license plate,' which he then produced, the sources said.

That license plate, which was found on the Pathfinder in Times Square,belonged to a different vehicle owned by a Bridgeport man who had taken itto Kramer's Auto Body Shop in Stratford a few weeks earlier.

It is unclear how Shahzad obtained the license plate; authorities said it was

never reported stolen. Department of Motor Vehicle spokesman WilliamSeymour said Tuesday night that the department 'is waiting for the federalinvestigation to be completed before determining whether to do their owninvestigation' of the license plate issue.

A few days after the purchase, Shahzad called back Colas to ask when thecar last had an oil change, records show. Investigators were able to quicklytie Shahzad to the Pathfinder by tracing the phone number from Colas'phone. They later determined that, after he bought the Pathfinder, Shahzadmade four calls to a number in Pakistan as well as to a fireworks store inPennsylvania.

Shahzad was now a 'person of interest.' State police staked out theBridgeport and Shelton addresses all night Sunday and through the dayMonday. His name was entered into the 'no-fly' list, which became key,


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federal authorities said, when he tried to leave the country Monday night ona plane to Dubai.

Shahzad paid cash for a plane ticket and was on board as it taxied towardthe runway before federal officials called it back, boarded the plane andarrested him without incident.

Courant staff writers Matthew Kauffman, David Owens and Edmund H.Mahony contributed to this story.Copyright 2012, The Hartford Couranthc-times-square-bomb-faisal-shahzad-conn-0505

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-times-square-bomb-faisal-shahzad-conn-0505,0,4402510.story

1.2.2. Bomb Threats Halt 2 Southwest Flights from Orange County(back)Bomb Threats Halt 2 Southwest Flights from Orange CountySouthwest Airlines Flight 811 (KTLA-TV / May 9, 2012)

4:02 a.m. PDT, May 9, 2012SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Two Southwest Airlines flights from Orange County toPhoenix were the subject of security scares Tuesday night, and authorities areinvestigating whether the incidents are linked.

Both planes were eventually cleared after officials determined a threat did not

exist.

Southwest Airlines flight 811 to Phoenix was taxiing from Gate 18 to the runwayaround 8:30 p.m. when a threat of a possible explosive or hazardous materialwas called in to law enforcement, according to Orange County Sheriff's Lt. JoeBalicki.

(5/11/2012): Officials removed passengers and brought in a bomb squad andcanine units to search the plane, said Laura Eimiller, FBI spokeswoman in theagency's Los Angeles office said.

'No threats of any kind' were found, Balicki said.

In the second incident, Southwest flight 1184 was taken to an isolated area atSky Harbor after it flew in from John Wayne Airport after authorities received a'non-specific threat,' said Ashley Dillon, the spokeswoman for the airline inDallas.

A bomb squad and K-9 unit were called in, and all the passengers and their bags

were re-screened.

Authorities did not find anything suspicious, Dillon said.

'We take any kind of threat seriously,' she said.


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The passengers of Flight 811 were waiting for another flight to Phoenix onWednesday morning.

The FBI is now investigating the threats.

(http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-southwest-bomb-threat,0,4272917.story)Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-southwest-bomb-threat,0,4272917.story

1.3. Europe (back)

1.3.1. Shoe-Thrower Interrupts Breivik Trial(back)May 11, 2012Shoe-Thrower Interrupts Breivik TrialBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSOSLO, Norway (AP) The trial of Anders Behring Breivik was interrupted brieflyFriday when the brother of one of his 77 victims hurled a shoe at the confessedmass killer and yelled, 'Go to hell,' before being escorted from the court room,police and witnesses said.

It was the first outburst from the normally subdued crowd watching the terrortrial in Oslo's district court since the proceedings began in mid-April.

Breivik a self-styled anti-Muslim militant has been charged with terrorism,admitting he carried out a bomb-and-shooting rampage that stunned Norway onJuly 22.

On Friday, forensic experts were going through autopsy reports for some of the69 victims killed in the shooting massacre at a youth camp that day, when aman in the second row suddenly stood up, said Mikaela Akerman, a Swedishjournalist who was in the court room.

'He threw one of his shoes at the desk where Breivik sits with his defenselawyers,' Akerman told The Associated Press. He shouted, 'You killer, go to hell.'

And repeated it several times.'

The shoe hit one of Breivik's defense lawyers but she was not hurt. Breivikremained calm and 'smiled a little' as he watched security guards apprehend theman and lead him out of the court room, Akerman said.

'He keeps shouting and is crying heavily as he's being led out,' Akerman said.'Some of the spectators clapped their hands. Some yelled 'Bravo.' Many othersstarted crying.'

Breivik addressed the court as proceedings resumed after a 10-minute break. 'Ifsomeone wants to throw something at me, you can do it when I walk in or whenI leave, thank you,' he said, according to Akerman.

Throwing of shoes to insult someone has long been a form of protest in many


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countries, but the practice gained widespread attention when an Iraqi threw hisshoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush at a televised news conference inBaghdad in 2008 during the Iraq war.

Police didn't identify the shoe-thrower in Oslo but said he was the brother of oneof the victims.

Police operations leader Rune Bjoersvik downplayed the outburst, calling it a'spontaneous and emotional reaction' that didn't pose a 'serious security risk.'

The man was emotionally distressed and was taken away from the court in anambulance, Bjoersvik said.

The incident offered a sharp break with the polite atmosphere that has reignedinside the courtroom, even as Breivik testified in graphic detail on how he set offa car bomb that killed eight people in Oslo's government district and thenhunted down teenagers at the Labor Party's annual youth camp on Utoya island.

The far-right fanatic has admitted to the attacks but pleaded innocent to terrorcharges, saying the victims were traitors for embracing multiculturalism.

Psychiatrists have reached conflicting conclusions about Breivik's mental state the key issue to be resolved during the trial. If found guilty and criminally sane,he would face 21 years in prison, though he could be held longer if deemeddangerous to society. If declared insane, he would be committed to compulsorypsychiatric care.

Police didn't say how the shoe-throwing incident would affect their securityprocedures at the court. As the trial resumed later Friday, three security guards

were placed at the front of the gallery.

Frode Elgesem, a lawyer for the bereaved, said he didn't consider the incident asa violent attack.

'I experienced this outburst as a desperate expression of despair,' he toldNorway's NTB news agency.

The defense lawyer who was hit by the shoe, Vibeke Hein Baere, told nationalbroadcaster NRK she hoped the incident would not be repeated during the trial,

which is scheduled to end in late June.

'There are many weeks left and I hope and believe that we will return to thedignified manners we have seen up until now,' she said.

___

Associated Press writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.

Date Collected: 5/11/2012

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/05/11/world/europe/ap-eu-norway-massacre.html?_r=1&hp&pagewanted=print


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1.3.2. Germany Sees Rise in Crimes With Political or Racist Motives(back)May 11, 2012Germany Sees Rise in Crimes With Political or Racist MotivesBy MELISSA EDDYBERLIN Politically motivated violent crimes in Germany increased by nearly18 percent in 2011, a year in which two U.S. airmen were killed by an Islamistextremist and a neo-Nazi cell identified as carrying out a series of previouslyunsolved murders of immigrants was uncovered.

Numbers released by the Interior Ministry on Friday showed an 11.2 percentoverall increase to 30,216 of crimes carried out for political or ideological reasonsacross the country. More than 70 percent of the crimes involved groups on theextreme left or extreme right, and many were acts of vandalism during regionalelections in several states last year.

While the circulation of illegal propaganda, which includes all printed materialassociated with the Nazis, remained the most common politically motivatedcrime, the number of racially motivated attacks grew by more than 16 percent.

Leading opposition members called for stronger government reaction againstfar-right extremists, who many say have slipped away from the scrutiny ofsecurity officials who are concentrated on threats from Islamists and the leftspectrum.

How horrifyingly high the level of violence is in the far-right scene is only nowbeing realized, Michael Hartmann, a security expert with the main oppositionSocial Democrats, told the Sddeutsche Zeitung.

A 14.8 percent jump in attacks against the police during demonstrations was

also recorded.

The head of the countrys police union called on the government to take strongeraction against those who attack officers during demonstrations. It is no longerenough to simply distance ourselves from violence, said Bernhard Witthaut.

A bright spot in the statistics was a 2.3 percent drop in the number ofanti-Semitic attacks, which decreased for the second consecutive year.

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/world/europe/germany-sees-rise-in-crimes-with-political-or-racist-motives.html?hpw&pagewanted=print

1.3.3. Britain: Radical Cleric Faces Setback in Court Over Efforts to Deport Him(back)

May 9, 2012--Britain: Radical Cleric Faces Setback in Court Over Efforts to Deport Him--By REUTERS--

--A radical preacher accused of giving spiritual inspiration to one of the hijackersin the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks lost a legal bid in the European courts onWednesday to challenge Britains long-running attempts to deport him to Jordanto stand trial on terrorism charges. The European Court of Human Rights


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rejected the request of the preacher, Abu Qatada, whose real name is OmarMahmoud Mohammed Othman, to refer his case to its most senior panel ofappeal judges, the latest stage in a legal battle that has dogged Britishgovernments for a decade. Mr. Othman, above, says he could face torture if he issent to Jordan, but the European court ruled that Britain had receivedsatisfactory assurances from Jordanian officials that he would not be mistreated.----Jordan has found Mr. Othman guilty in his absence of sending encouragementfrom Britain to militants in Jordan planning two bombing attacks in 1999 and2000. He would be retried in Jordan if he is deported. ------

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/world/europe/britain-radical-cleric-faces-setback-in-court-over-efforts-to-deport-him.html?pagewanted=print

1.4. Middle East (back)

1.4.1. Yemen (back)

1.4.1.1. Foiled Plot (back)

1.4.1.1.1. Long-Running Antiterrorism Work With Saudis Led to Airline

Plot s Failure(back)May 9, 2012Long-Running Antiterrorism Work With Saudis Led to Airline PlotsFailureBy ROBERT F. WORTH and ERIC SCHMITTWASHINGTON In the video, Yemeni militants can be seen forcingtheir prisoner to his knees in the bright sunlight. The gunmen readout a death sentence declaring the man to be a Saudi spy who hopedto infiltrate Al Qaeda, and then, as the screen goes blank, a rifle shotrings out, followed by cries of God is great!

That gruesome clip was released by Al Qaedas Yemeni affiliate inMarch, two months before the revelation this week that American andSaudi intelligence agencies had infiltrated Al Qaeda in Yemen andfoiled an effort to smuggle a bomb onto a United States-bound jetliner.But it offers a glimpse of the clandestine battle going on in the remotemountains and deserts of Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and the UnitedStates have worked closely together against a militant network thatremains determined to strike American targets.

That collaboration appears to have intensified over the past two years,

despite a long history of mistrust rooted in the role of Saudi hijackersin the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The relationship was tested again lastyear when Saudi leaders responded furiously to Americanendorsement of the revolt that ousted a Saudi ally, President HosniMubarak of Egypt. American diplomats were surprised and angered in


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turn soon afterward when Saudi Arabia sent troops to help put downunrest in neighboring Bahrain.

But when it comes to counterterrorism, the Saudis have been crucialpartners, not only for the United States but also for an array of otherWestern powers. The crucial testing ground for that partnership is nowYemen, where the local affiliate of Al Qaeda continues to plan attacksagainst Western targets even after the killing of its chief ideologue,Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric, in a drone strike in theYemeni desert last September.

The Saudis have a special position in Yemen they can do what theAmericans cannot do, said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst at theGulf Research Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Theyunderstand the culture, and they provide the human intelligence,which is the crucial and dangerous part. The Americans provide theelectronic surveillance.

The Saudi authorities have said very little about the foiled plot, whichwas to involve a suicide bomber sewing an explosive into hisunderwear and detonating it in midair much like the bombingattempt in late 2009 by a young Nigerian who was also recruited andtrained in Yemen. The agent who foiled the plot apparently byvolunteering for the suicide mission himself is now safely in SaudiArabia, officials there say. But analysts have speculated that thedisclosure may already have damaged Saudi Arabias carefullycultivated network of informants.

Saudi intelligence officials have been deploying agents in Yemen for

years, analysts say, in what has become a game of mutual subversion.In 2009 a Saudi member of Al Qaedas Yemen-based affiliate suddenlyreturned home and surrendered to the authorities, delivering a blow tothe militant network. A few months later, another militant thebrother of the man who American authorities believe designed theunderwear device in the recently foiled plot intended to do the samething, but instead detonated a bomb concealed inside his body on hisarrival. His target, the kingdoms top counterterrorism official, PrinceMohammed bin Nayef, narrowly escaped death.

Your success last time becomes your failure the next time, saidGregory Johnsen, a Yemen scholar at Princeton University. Both sidesare constantly adapting and learning from each other.

Most of this struggle takes place in the shadows, but occasionalglimpses emerge in the frequent bulletins released by Al QaedasYemeni branch and its allied group, Ansar al-Shariah. The accusedSaudi spy executed in March was one in a batch of three, and hisexecution video was accompanied by footage of all three menconfessing to being paid by Yemeni or Saudi authorities. Theconfessions which cannot be verified and could well have been

produced under duress include claims that the men providedinformation that helped American drones target and kill Yemenimilitants. A number of similar videos were released last year.


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The espionage has grown even more dangerous since last year, whenpolitical turmoil in the Yemeni capital of Sana allowed the militants tocarve out a much broader swath of territory in south Yemen and evento build training camps, according to American officials. The Americancampaign of drone strikes has also stepped up, and on Sunday yieldeda significant victory: the killing of Fahd al-Quso, a high-rankingmember of Al Qaedas Yemeni branch who was wanted by the F.B.I.for his role in the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.

That strike, which used information provided by the double agent whofoiled the airliner plot, underscores how counterterrorism cooperationbetween the countries has intensified in the past eight months asanalysts in both the United States and Saudi Arabia have monitored agrowing number of informant tips and electronic intercepts indicatingthe Qaeda branch in Yemen was gearing up for another attack.

In October 2010, it was Prince bin Nayef who called John O. Brennan,President Obamas top counterterrorism adviser, to warn that bombs

packed inside computer printer cartridges were en route to Chicagofrom Yemen; the devices were removed from cargo planes in Dubaiand the East Midlands Airport in Britain.

A former senior American intelligence official said on Wednesday thatPrince bin Nayef oversaw the recent operation to use a Saudiinformant to thwart the airliner plot.

The threat from Yemen is in many ways the soft underbelly they needto protect, so it shouldnt be surprising that they have intelligence andcounterterrorism sources focused on this threat, said Juan Zarate, a

former top counterterrorism official under President George W. Bushwho is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The counterterrorism cooperation has not been without bumps,officials from both countries acknowledge.

In 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation quietly sent a handful ofagents to Saudi Arabia to work with officials there on a classifiedcounterterrorism strategy, according to a senior American official whowas briefed on the program. After several months, however, the two

sides disagreed on a common strategy, and the F.B.I. agents wenthome.

Internal State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks and madeavailable to several news organizations revealed American frustrationwith Saudi Arabia in curtailing financial supporters of many extremistactivities.

It has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treatterrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategicpriority, said a classified cable sent by Secretary of State Hillary

Rodham Clinton in December 2009, concluding that donors in SaudiArabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunniterrorist groups worldwide.


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Under pressure from the United States, American officials now say,Saudi Arabia is taking the threat more seriously, holding financiersaccountable through prosecutions and making terrorist financing ahigher priority.

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/world/middleeast/years-of-us-saudi-teamwork-led-to-airline-plots-failure.html?pagewanted=print

1.4.1.1.2. Double Agent Disrupted Bombing Plot, U.S. Says(back)May 8, 2012Double Agent Disrupted Bombing Plot, U.S. SaysBy SCOTT SHANE and ERIC SCHMITTWASHINGTON The suicide bomber dispatched by the Yemen branch

of Al Qaeda last month to blow up a United States-bound airliner wasactually an intelligence agent for Saudi Arabia who infiltrated theterrorist group and volunteered for the mission, American and foreignofficials said Tuesday.

In an extraordinary intelligence coup, the double agent left Yemen lastmonth, traveling by way of the United Arab Emirates, and deliveredboth the innovative bomb designed for his aviation attack and insideinformation on the groups leaders, locations, methods and plans tothe Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi intelligence and allied foreignintelligence agencies.

Officials said the agent, whose identity they would not disclose, worksfor the Saudi intelligence service, which has cooperated closely withthe C.I.A. for several years against the terrorist group in Yemen. Heoperated in Yemen with the full knowledge of the C.I.A. but not underits direct supervision, the officials said.

After spending weeks at the center of Al Qaedas most dangerousaffiliate, the intelligence agent provided critical information thatpermitted the C.I.A. to direct the drone strike on Sunday that killedFahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, the groups external operationsdirector and a suspect in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, an Americandestroyer, in Yemen in 2000.

He also handed over the bomb, designed by the groups top explosivesexpert to be undetectable at airport security checks, to the F.B.I.,which is analyzing its properties at its laboratory at Quantico, Va. Theagent is now safe in Saudi Arabia, officials said. The bombing plot waskept secret for weeks by the C.I.A. and other agencies because theyfeared retaliation against the agent and his family not, as somecommentators have suggested, because the Obama administration

wanted to schedule an announcement of the foiled plot, Americanofficials said.

Officials said Tuesday night that the risk to the agent and his relativeshad now been mitigated, evidently by moving both him and his


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family to safe locations.

But American intelligence officials were angry about the disclosure ofthe Qaeda plot, first reported Monday by The Associated Press, whichhad held the story for several days at the request of the C.I.A. Theyfeared the leak would discourage foreign intelligence services fromcooperating with the United States on risky missions in the future,said Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican andchairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

We are talking about compromising methods and sources and causingour partners to be leery about working with us, said Mr. King, whospoke with reporters about the plot on Monday night and Tuesdayafter he was briefed by counterterrorism officials. Mr. King, who calledthe bomb plot one of the most tightly held operations Ive seen in myyears in the House, said he was told that government officials plannedto investigate the source of the original leak. The C.I.A. declined tocomment.

Intelligence officials believe that the explosive is the latest effort of thegroups skilled bomb maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Mr. Asiri is alsobelieved to have designed the explosives used in the failed bombingattempt on an airliner over Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, and packed intoprinter cartridges and placed on cargo planes in October 2010.

A senior American official said the new device was sewn intocustom-fit underwear and would have been very hard to detect evenin a careful pat-down. Unlike the device used in the unsuccessful 2009attack, this bomb could be detonated in two ways, in case one failed,

the official said.

The main charge was a high-grade military explosive thatundoubtedly would have brought down an aircraft, the official said.

Forensic experts at the F.B.I.s bomb laboratory are assessing whetherthe bomb could have evaded screening machines and securitymeasures revamped after the failed 2009 plot. One American officialsaid the bureaus initial analysis indicated that if updated securityprotocols designed to detect a wider range of possible threats were

properly conducted, the measures most likely would have detectedthe device.

On Tuesday, the Transportation Security Administration repeated asecurity message previously sent to airlines and foreign governments.The security guidance notes that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsulastill intends to attack the United States, probably using commercialaviation, and warns T.S.A. agents to look out for explosives in cargo,concealed in clothing or surgically implanted, officials said.

Over the past eight months, American counterterrorism officials have

monitored with growing alarm a rising number of electronic interceptsand tips from informants suggesting that Al Qaedas branch in Yemenhas been ramping up plots to attack the United States.


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There was increasing concern about the chatter, more and moreintelligence that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was moving withrenewed energy to carry out some kind of attack against homeland,using airliners and concealed explosives, said one senioradministration official. Working with foreign allies, the Obamaadministration quietly tightened airport security.

The ominous signs followed months of political chaos in Yemen duringwhich the Qaeda branch and its militant allies seized effective controlover large areas of the country, giving the terrorist group a broaderbase from which to plot attacks against both the Yemeni governmentand the United States.

Senior American counterterrorism and military officials have expressedconcern that Al Qaedas growing number of training camps, includingsmall compounds, have churned out dozens of new fighters who, inturn, help expand the area under the insurgents control. Officials fearthat the camps could also train Qaeda operatives for external

operations against targets in Europe and the United States.

Certainly when they hold terrain, it makes training more safe andsecure than on disputed terrain; therefore, more and better training,said one senior American military official.

The Yemeni governments control over the hinterlands southeast of thecapital, Sana, has always been tenuous, but over the past year it hasreceded almost entirely. With the authorities focused on politicalturmoil in the capital, many soldiers fled their posts, and jihadistsbegan asserting control.

For more than a year the town of Jaar along with several smallersettlements has been controlled by militants who operate under thebanner Ansar al-Sharia, which is variously described as a wing of AlQaedas Yemeni branch or as an allied group.

One prominent tribal mediator from Shabwa Province, reachedTuesday by phone, said Ansar al-Sharia controlled all the checkpointson Yemens southern coast between Aden and Balhaf, and as far northas Ataq. On Monday, militants attacked several army bases and

outposts in the south, killing 20 soldiers and capturing 25, TheAssociated Press reported. Local tribal figures described the attacks asrevenge for the killing of Mr. Quso on Sunday.

Control in the south often appears to be shared between militants,local tribes and members of the southern independence movement,which is largely secular. But Qaeda militants and their allies appear tooperate freely even in areas they do not fully control, possiblyincluding Aden, the souths major city. Aden has become a bastion ofopen opposition to the government, with the flag of the independencemovement once rigidly banned now flying from houses across the

city.

Robert F. Worth and Michael S. Schmidt contributed reporting.


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Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/world/middleeast/suicide-mission-volunteer-was-double-agent-officials-say.html?pagewanted=print

1.4.1.1.3. Qaeda Plot to Attack Plane Foiled, U.S. Officials Say(back)May 7, 2012Qaeda Plot to Attack Plane Foiled, U.S. Officials SayBy SCOTT SHANE and ERIC SCHMITTWASHINGTON The Central Intelligence Agency, working closely withforeign partners, thwarted a plot by the branch of Al Qaeda in Yemento smuggle an experimental bomb aboard an airliner bound for theUnited States, intelligence officials said on Monday.

The intelligence services detected the scheme as it took shape in

mid-April, officials said, and the explosive device was seized in theMiddle East outside Yemen about a week ago before it could bedeployed.

It appeared that Qaeda leaders had dispatched a suicide bomber fromYemen with instructions to board a flight to the United States with thedevice under his clothes, but that he had been stopped beforereaching an airport. Representative Peter T. King, Republican of NewYork and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, saidcounterterrorism officials had said of the bomber: We dont have toworry about him anymore. He is alive, officials said, but they would

not to say whether he was in foreign custody.

But the disclosure was a worrisome sign that Al Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula remains determined to attack the United States even after aC.I.A. drone strike in Yemen in September killed its two operativeswho were American citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan.American officials said the group had established new training campsafter seizing territory in recent months as a result of the upheavalfrom the Arab Spring.

Officials said they believed that the new device was the work of thegroups skilled bomb maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who has longbeen a target of American counterterrorism efforts. Mr. Asiri is alsobelieved to have designed the explosives used in two previous attemptsto take down airliners bound for the United States.

The plot was disclosed a day after an American drone strike in Yemenkilled Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, who was wanted for thebombing of the destroyer Cole in Yemen in 2000 and had replaced Mr.Awlaki as the external operations chief for the Qaeda branch. Thoughthe device was seized close to the anniversary of the killing of Osama

bin Laden, the Qaeda founder, officials said they had picked up nointelligence suggesting that the plot had been timed to the May 2anniversary or motivated by revenge.

Officials would not explain the delay in revealing the plot, saying that


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discussing the case in too much detail could endangercounterterrorism operations.

The Associated Press, which broke the news Monday afternoon, saidthat it had uncovered the existence of the bomb last week, but that theWhite House and the C.I.A. had asked it not to publish the newsimmediately because the intelligence operation was still under way.Once officials said those concerns had been allayed, The A.P. reported,it decided to disclose the plot despite requests from the Obamaadministration to wait for an official announcement on Tuesday.

The F.B.I. said its explosive experts were conducting technical andforensics analysis on the device to understand whether it was anadvance over previous bombs designed by A.Q.A.P., as the Yemenbranch of the terrorist network is known. It contained no metal partsand had a different kind of detonator, designed to escape detection atairport security, American officials said.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is chairwomanof the Senate Intelligence Committee, was briefed on the plot onMonday and said the bomb was a new design and very difficult todetect by magnetometer, the conventional type of metal detector stillused in most world airports.

A senior administration official who spoke on the condition ofanonymity said the sophistication of the I.E.D. is concerning, usingthe abbreviation for an improvised explosive device.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had no specific, credible

information regarding an active terrorist plot against the U.S. at thistime.

The latest plot underscored statements by President Obamascounterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, that the Yemen affiliate ofAl Qaeda remains the most active and dangerous terrorist grouptargeting the United States.

The White House said Mr. Brennan had repeatedly briefed thepresident on the latest plot since its detection.

A National Security Council spokeswoman, Caitlin Hayden, said Mr.Obama thanks all intelligence and counterterrorism professionalsinvolved for their outstanding work and for serving with theextraordinary skill and commitment that their enormousresponsibilities demand.

On Dec. 25, 2009, a Nigerian militant trained by the Qaeda branch inYemen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited explosives hidden in hisunderwear aboard a jetliner headed for Detroit, but burned onlyhimself. In October 2010, authorities acting on a tip from Saudi

Arabian intelligence found bombs packed inside computer printercartridges en route from Yemen to Chicago; the devices were removedfrom cargo planes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the EastMidlands Airport in Britain.


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In addition, in August 2009, a member of A.Q.A.P. blew himself up inSaudi Arabia in an unsuccessful attack against Mohammed bin Nayef,Saudi Arabias counterterrorism chief.

Saudi intelligence has closely cooperated with the Obamaadministration in counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. American officialsdeclined to say which foreign intelligence services had helped foil thelatest plot.

The senior administration official said that in contrast to the attack onDec. 25, 2009, and the printer plot, the C.I.A. and its foreign partnershad been carefully monitoring this from early on. While it showedthat the terrorist group still intended to take down an airliner, theofficial suggested that American counterterrorism officials had gainedthe upper hand, at least for now.

We have robust intelligence on their operations, and we killed their

external operations chief on Sunday, the official said.

Mr. King, of the Homeland Security Committee, said information onthe unfolding case had been tightly held, without the usual briefingsfor members of Congress on continuing operations until Monday. Hesaid officials were shocked that this had gotten out before theannouncement planned for Tuesday.

A senior law enforcement official said it was unclear if the Qaeda groupin Yemen had built more of the devices.

If they built one, they probably built more, said the official, whospoke on the condition of anonymity because of the operations delicatenature. Thats the scary part.

Michael S. Schmidt and John H. Cushman Jr. contributed reporting.

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/world/middleeast

/us-says-terrorist-plot-to-attack-plane-foiled.html?ref=global-home&pagewanted=print

1.4.1.2. Yemen: Airstrikes Kill 7 Militants(back)May 10, 2012--Yemen: Airstrikes Kill 7 Militants--By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS----Two airstrikes on Thursday in southern Yemen killed seven militants,

including two top operatives of Al Qaeda, Yemeni officials said. There was noimmediate word from Washington on whether it was behind the airstrikes.The first strike, in Jaar, killed five militants, including a senior member ofthe terrorist network in charge of armaments, Yemeni officials said. Thesecond airstrike, in Shaqra, killed two militants, the Yemeni officials said,


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including Al Qaedas second-in-command for Lawder, a town that wascontrolled by the group until residents drove the militants out. LaterThursday, soldiers shelled a gathering of militants outside Zinjibar, killing10 fighters, the Defense Ministry said. ------

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/world/middleeast/yemen-airstrikes-kill-7-militants.html?pagewanted=print

1.4.2. Syria (back)

1.4.2.1. Analysis: Israel Frets on Sideline as Fall of Assad Delayed(back)May 11, 2012--Analysis: Israel Frets on Sideline as Fall of Assad Delayed--By REUTERS--JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Keen for a little bit of certainty in a turbulent Arabworld, Israeli leaders persuaded themselves last year that Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad - the devil they knew next door - was finished, andsomething possibly better might be on the way. ----But it was not to be. With the Syrian uprising now into its 14th month andAssad still firmly in power, Israel has few options other than to sit the crisisout, unable to influence the outcome of an upheaval that is sure to affect it.--

--Israeli officials and analysts believe Assad will hang on for a while, battlinga popular revolt that Israel, Arab and Western powers worry could yet behijacked by Islamist radicals, after four decades of calm along Israel'sborder with Syria. ----'A nuanced evaluation of the situation in Syria suggests that while Assadhas lost his legitimacy amongst the masses, he still maintains the vitalsupport of much of the army,' Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said inJerusalem last week. ----

'So the tragic massacre of innocents continues while the future of Syria isshrouded in uncertainty,' he told foreign correspondents. 'Whatever followsAssad's bloodstained regime will be greeted with Israel's extended hand ofpeace ... Our other hand will remain firmly grasped to our weapon.' ----As with the revolt that toppled their longtime Egyptian ally Hosni Mubarak15 months ago, Israeli leaders had tried to keep their lips buttoned aboutSyria at first and let the storm unfold, hoping for the best. ----Then as the death toll quickly mounted in Assad's ruthless crackdown on

the popular challenge to his rule, top officials including Barak and PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Assad regime was clearly on its wayout. ----But that was last year. Assad is still in power. --


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--In the long term, Israel would like nothing better than to see the collapse ofthe Shi'ite Muslim-dominated Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis, a hostile northernarch in which Assad's government headed by his Alawite sect forms thekeystone. ----Syria's fractious Sunni Muslim-led opposition says it would turn apost-Assad Syria away from Israel's main enemy, Iran, towards moderateSunni powers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. ----The prospect of peace with Syria is enticing for Israel. But Syria's oppositionis deeply divided, and Israel has little if any leverage to promote theemergence of a moderate government next door in Damascus - three hours'drive from Tel Aviv. ----'Israel is entirely powerless to affect the outcome in Syria,' says JonathanSpyer, senior fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs centre inHerzliya. 'Israel's role in the current events in Syria is that of spectator.' --

--'What Israel of course can do and is doing is to strengthen its defensiveposture on its northern border in the event of any attempt by elements inSyria to try to re-focus attention on Israel. For my part, I consider thisunlikely...' Spyer said. ----WEAK OPPOSITION ----Israeli and foreign analysts agree that the grand coalition forged byNetanyahu this week could strengthen his hand in dealing with whatWestern officials suspect are Iran's nuclear arms development plans and in

reviving hopes of a Middle East peace with the Palestinians. ----But Netanyahu's now unassailable Knesset majority makes no obvious orimmediate difference in the case of Syria. ----Two car bombers killed nearly 60 people on Thursday in the deadliest strikein Damascus since the uprising began. The attack appeared to drive a stakethrough the heart of a dying ceasefire declared by international mediatorKofi Annan on April 12, which he acknowledges has failed to halt thebloodshed. --

--'The hapless attempt to implement the Kofi Annan plan is ending inabsurdity and humiliation,' said Spyer. ----He believed Assad stood a good chance of surviving, 'unless an internationalcoalition comes into being which supports the opposition at least as firmlyas the international coalition behind Assad supports him'. ----Active support of the opposition would mean the creation of a buffer zone inthe north, and assistance to the armed element in the Syrian uprising, thisanalyst said. --

--Technically, Israel remains at war with Syria and its involvement in such arisky gamble seems highly improbable. ----


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Despite Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights after the 1973 Middle Eastconflict, the United Nations-patrolled disengagement line with Syria hasbeen Israel's quietest border for 40 years - under the late Hafez al-Assadand now his son. ----Barak predicted one year ago that Assad would soon be toppled, sayingIsrael should not be alarmed. The process taking place in the Middle Eastholds great promise, he said last May. ----Today Barak says Israel must be ready in case 'as Syria descends intochaos, advanced weapons, or part of their stock of chemical and biologicalweapons could spill over into both terrorist and criminal hands'. ----Syria is widely believed to possess chemical warheads which can be firedwith Soviet-era Scud missiles. Israel fears that Hezbollah, or radicalIslamists, or al Qaeda fighters, could grab some of them in an uncontrolledmeltdown of the regime. ----

YEMENI-STYLE SOLUTION? ----'Assad is going to last,' said Syria analyst Moshe Maoz of Hebrew University.'The balance of power is in his favor. There have been no mass defections.'----The officer corps of the army are members of Assad's minority Alawite sect,who know they would be slaughtered if Sunni-led rebels took control ofSyria, and so will fight on for their lives, Maoz said. ----Punitive embargoes could take years to bring down Assad, he said.

Sympathetic neighbors Iraq and Lebanon would ensure that Damascusnever faces 'a fully-fledged siege' of sanctions. ----In the meantime, Maoz said, Israel's best long-term strategy would be toclose ranks with Sunni Arab leaders in the region, by moving finally anddecisively to settle the Middle East conflict, with a peace treaty and aPalestinian state. ----'This is the crux issue for everybody,' the analyst said. Not all Israelis agreethere is real linkage between the occupation of the West Bank and Arab or

Iranian hostility. ----But Israel is in 'a stormy sea in which the waves of radicalism are growingin strength', said Barak, and 'any intimation of democracy, any hint ofpeace should be grabbed with both hands.' ----A senior official said Israel had no solution for Syria up its sleeve. It isanxious to see more assertive policies by Western and Arab capitals,including imposition of humanitarian corridors to areas of conflict fromwhich the United Nations estimates one million Syrians have beendisplaced. --

--Such corridors would need military protection, which Western powers so farfirmly rule out. Syria's northern neighbor Turkey could force a rethink,however, if it were to declare to its NATO allies that its own security was


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threatened. ----Still, it would be mistaken to corner Assad, the Israeli official said. It wouldbe wiser to seek a way to convince his ally Russia that its investment inSyria would not be lost if Assad could be convinced to step aside, asYemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh did late last year under Saudi and Americanpressure. ----Russian cooperation, said Spyer, is crucial if the Western-Arab coalitionbacking Annan's plan decides Assad is not complying and goes back to theSecurity Council seeking 'further measures' to enforce a ceasefire andpolitical settlement. ----'It is Russian weaponry which is keeping Assad in place. Russia hasinvested deeply in Syria, both in terms of arms exports and broaderinfrastructural projects and the search for oil and gas. Of course, theimportance of the naval base at Tartous should also not be underestimated,'he said. --

--But Spyer thinks Moscow and other allies of Assad 'apparently believe thatthe regime stands a good chance of coming through this and now has theupper hand. So why should they do their U.S. regional rivals a favor andmake themselves look weak by abandoning a client?' ----(Editing by Mark Heinrich) ----------

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Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/05/11/world/middleeast/11reuters-israel-syria.html?hp&pagewanted=print

1.4.2.2. Dozens Killed in Large Explosions in Syrian Capital(back)May 10, 2012--

Dozens Killed in Large Explosions in Syrian Capital--By NEIL MacFARQUHAR--BEIRUT, Lebanon Twin suicide car bombs that targeted a notoriousmilitary intelligence compound shook the Syrian capital, Damascus, onThursday, killing and wounding hundreds of people and raising the


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likelihood of extremist elements propelling the conflict to a moretreacherous phase. ----It was the largest such terrorist attack since the uprising began 14 monthsago, with the Health Ministry putting the toll at 55 dead and nearly 400wounded civilians and soldiers. The dual explosions forged a hellishlandscape of incinerated corpses, burning vehicles and a billowing plume ofsmoke visible throughout Damascus. ----There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the attack put aspotlight on the growing involvement of Islamic jihadists in the fight againstthe government of President Bashar al-Assad, particularly those from anIraqi branch of Al Qaeda that has been openly agitating to join the fray.That prospect raised fears that Syria was heading into the kind of chaosand bloodletting that plagued Iraq and served as a training ground forterrorists. ----There is no question that Al Qaeda in Iraq has attempted to push into the

vacuum in Syria, said Seth G. Jones, a specialist at the RAND Corporationin counterinsurgency, counterterrorism and Al Qaeda in particular. Theyare not a majority part of the opposition, and they are not a leading part ofthe opposition, but they are there. ----A broad group of people engaged in the fight in Syria including oppositionactivists, community organizers and outside analysts said they hadnoticed a jihadi mind-set and vocabulary among opposition fighters. ----Where once accounts of foreign gunmen seemed to be more rumor thanfact, there have been reports of non-Syrians dying in the fight, and

statements from some armed elements of the opposition are no longer quiteso emphatic that they want foreigners to stay home. Experts compare whatis happening in Syria to similar nascent phases in Iraq, Yemen, Somaliaand northern Mali, where a radicalized domestic core of fighters, eventuallysupplemented by foreigners and veterans of other jihadi conflicts, graduallyswelled into a dangerous, anarchic insurgency. ----Jihadi Web sites have lit up with discussions for months about thelegitimacy of Sunni Muslims fighting the Syrian government dominated bythe minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, experts said. Iraqi

officials have remarked on a small but distinct migration westward of thejihadis in their midst. ----One official close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq said the spate ofbombings in Syria in recent months have the same traits, the samemethods of Al Qaedas Iraqi affiliate. ----Experts pointed out that in the years those fighters were flooding Iraq, theyhad established networks to go to Syria and sometimes train there, so nowthey are using the same networks to filter back throughout Syria. Aymanal-Zawahri, the Qaeda leader, has called on his faithful to join the fight. --

--Iraqi and American officials have said that a modest number of members ofthe predominantly Sunni Qaeda in Iraq estimates range between thedouble digits and the low hundreds have crossed into Syria to join an


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increasingly volatile and sectarian conflict. ----It is unclear what effect if any they are having there, but Iraqi officialssaid insurgent operatives with explosives expertise were among thoserecruited to fight in Syria. ----There are insurgents going to fight to Syria for jihad or to change theregime, said Gen. Mahdi Sabeeh al-Gharawi, the commander of theFederal Police in Mosul, in northern Iraq. Whenever there is politicalturmoil and tension, youll find emerging of those terrorist actions on theground. What happened today is a simple example. ----In Iraqs Diyala Province, once an insurgent magnet, security officials saidthat terrorism suspects hade vanished in recent weeks and were believed tohave gone to Syria. There were also indications that Al Qaeda in Iraq wasinvolved in establishing the shadowy group Al-Nusra Front, which hasclaimed responsibility for a string of recent attacks, Mr. Jones said. ----

The Syrian government crushed an Islamic militancy in the 1980s bydrawing the Muslim Brotherhood into a military confrontation where itcould not possibly prevail. The government is using the same playbook,experts said. ----A recent analysis from the International Crisis Group, an independentorganization devoted to preventing and resolving deadly conflict, was calledSyrias Phase of Radicalization. ----The fact is that the regimes behavior has fueled extremists on both sidesand, by allowing the countrys slide into chaos, provided them space to

move in and operate, the report said. The fighting came at a huge cost tocivilians and, in its aftermath, security forces engaged in widespread abuse,further radicalizing large swaths of society. ----The attack on Thursday sheared the face off the nine-story building of thePalestine Branch of military intelligence, long feared as the headquartersfor the surveillance, arrest and torture of government opponents, especiallyIslamic militants. It was nicknamed the Sheraton by prisoners becausedetainees from so many nations had been dragged into it over the years,activists said. --

--The other building damaged in the compound was the Patrols Branch,responsible for maintaining and dispatching the intelligence vehicles thatprowl the Damascus area. ----At least 11 soldiers were dead, said a person at the military hospital in theMezzeh neighborhood, where the bulk of the casualties from the securityservices were taken. Many of the wounded were local residents cut by flyingglass, said one doctor reached by telephone at a government hospital. ----I was preparing to leave when this big explosion went off, then a minute

later another, bigger explosion erupted, said Abu Omar, a 40-year-oldfather of three who lives a few hundred yards from the Qazzar highwayintersection where the suicide bombers struck. Every window in my housebroke. I looked out and saw fire and smoke. --


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--The explosions went off just before 8 a.m., when the highway was crowdedwith people driving to work and buses ferrying children to school. Thescattered bombings up until now have been either directly in front ofsecurity buildings or on Fridays, when not many people are about. ----So many local residents rushed to the scene that the security services hadto fire into the air to disperse them, witnesses said. ----The two cars were packed with more than 2,200 pounds of explosives,destroying 21 nearby vehicles and damaging more than 100 others,according to a statement from the Interior Ministry read on state television.Pictures on state television showed two large craters in the road. ----The state media repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of financingthe attack through their support for the opposition. The opposition blamedthe government, claiming it was trying to frighten ordinary Syrians. Expertsdismissed the possibility that the government would blow up its own

intelligence headquarters. ----The bombing complicated already difficult United Nations efforts to bolster awobbly, month-old cease-fire. Condemnations were issued around theglobe, including by the United States, Russia and Kofi Annan, the primaryarchitect of the cease-fire. ----Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the Norwegian officer leading the United Nationsobserver mission, visited the scene soon after the blasts. This is yetanother example of the suffering brought upon the people of Syria from actsof violence, General Mood said in remarks broadcast on state television.

We, the world community, are here with the Syrian people, and I call oneveryone within and outside Syria to help stop this violence. ----Jack Healy contributed reporting from Baghdad, Hwaida Saad from Beirut,and an employee of The New York Times from Damascus, Syria.----------CloseShare--

Facebook--Twitter--Google+--TumblrLinkedin--Reddit--Email--PermalinkMore in Middle East (2 of 38 articles)--Egyptian Candidates Clash in TV Debate, an Arab First--Read More ----Close--

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/world/middleeast/damascus-syria-explosions-intelligence-


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headquarters.html?hpw&pagewanted=print

1.5. Asia (back)

1.5.1. Afghanistan(back)

1.5.1.1. NATO Soldier Killed by Assailant in Afghan Army Uniform(back)May 11, 2012NATO Soldier Killed by Assailant in Afghan Army UniformBy GRAHAM BOWLEYKABUL, Afghanistan An attacker wearing an Afghan Army uniformopened fire on coalition soldiers in remote eastern Afghanistan on Friday,killing one NATO service member, the coalition said in a statement.

Afghan officials said the shooting took place in Kunar Province on the

Pakistan border and that the attacker had escaped. Following NATO policy,the coalition statement did not disclose the nationality of the dead soldier.

NATO said that the killing was under investigation. The episode appeared tobe the latest in a recent string of so-called green-on-blue assaults oncoalition soldiers by their Afghan partners this year.

Wasiefullah Wasifi, a spokesman for the governor of Kunar Province, saidthe shooting happened on Friday morning in the Ghaziabad District of theprovince. Attaullah, the police chief of Ghaziabad, also confirmed theshooting.

The Taliban claimed one of its own fighters was responsible.

The shooting followed an attack on Sunday when a NATO soldier was shotto death by an individual wearing an Afghan Army uniform in HelmandProvince in the countrys south. In that shooting, the attacker was killedwhen coalition soldiers returned fire.

After the attack Sunday, NATO officials in Kabul said on Monday that it wasthe 14th such attack in Afghanistan so far this year, and the 19th coalition

death at the hands of individuals wearing Afghan Army uniforms.

After Fridays killing, the NATO statement said: An individual wearing anAfghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against coalition servicemembers in eastern Afghanistan today, killing one service member.

Ghaziabad, one of several districts in Kunar that had become something ofa gathering point for large numbers of fighters crossing the border fromPakistan, was the scene of heavy fighting over the past year.

In October, American and Afghan troops fought intense battles in that

region to gain control of a critical corridor and convoy resupply route thathad been cut off by insurgents.

Kunars mountains and valleys have been the site of some of the most


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fateful fighting of the war, including a series of deadly encounters in theKorangal Valley, where more than 40 Americans lost their lives during afive-year presence at an outpost there, which was closed in April 2010.

Now in Kunar, as elsewhere across the country, NATO troops have beenmaking an intense effort to weaken insurgents as much as possible beforethe coalition troops withdraw and hand over combat outposts and forwardoperating bases to the Afghan Army.

On Sunday, President Hamid Karzai plans to announce the next group ofregions where NATO will relinquish security control to the Afghans.

An employee of The New York Times in Kunar Province contribute reporting.

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/world/asia/nato-soldier-

killed-by-assailant-in-afghan-army-uniform.html?hp&pagewanted=print

1.5.1.2. Parents of P.O.W. Reveal U.S. Talks on Taliban Swap(back)May 9, 2012Parents of P.O.W. Reveal U.S. Talks on Taliban SwapBy ELISABETH BUMILLER and MATTHEW ROSENBERGHAILEY, Idaho The parents of the only American soldier held captive byAfghan insurgents have broken a yearlong silence about the status of theirson, abruptly making public that he is a focus of secret negotiations

between the Obama administration and the Taliban over a proposedprisoner exchange.

The negotiations, currently stalled, involved a trade of five Taliban prisonersheld at the American military prison at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, for Sgt.Bowe Bergdahl of the Army, who is believed to be held by the militantHaqqani network in the tribal area of Pakistans northwest frontier, on theAfghan border. Sergeant Bergdahl was captured in Paktika Province inAfghanistan on June 30, 2009. His family has not heard from him in ayear, since they saw him in a Taliban video, although they and thePentagon believe that he is alive and well.

The familys decision to end its silence could free up the Obamaadministration to discuss the case publicly and reframe the debate inWashington about releasing the Taliban prisoners, which is seen as acrucial confidence-building measure in efforts to strike a political settlementwith the Taliban. American officials believe that a peace deal would helpensure Afghanistans stability after 2014, when most American and NATOforces will have left the country. In the absence of a prisoner exchangeagreement, those talks are moribund, one Western official said.

Until now, the administration has said publicly only that the negotiationsincluded talks about releasing the five prisoners from Guantnamo to thecustody of the government in Qatar which some Democrats andRepublicans in Congress have opposed and not that the five might beexchanged for Sergeant Bergdahl.


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Sergeant Bergdahls father, Robert Bergdahl, said in interviews with TheNew York Times near the familys home here on Tuesday and Wednesdaythat he was frustrated by the lack of progress on the talks, which hebelieves are stalled because the Obama administration is reacting topressure from Congress in an election year not to negotiate with terrorists.

We dont have faith in the U.S. government being able to reconcile this,Mr. Bergdahl said.

Although Sergeant Bergdahls captivity has long been publicly known, thefamily had kept the prisoner exchange negotiations secret at the urging ofthe Obama administration and out of fear that their son might be harmed.But the Taliban suspended talks in March in large part because of theirfrustration with what they see as Washingtons dragging its feet over theexchange.

American officials counter that the Taliban have not agreed to a major

American demand: a travel ban intended to keep the transferred detaineesfrom leaving Qatar and returning to the battlefields of Afghanistan orinsurgent havens in Pakistan.

Mr. Bergdahl, who said he wanted to bring more attention to his sonsplight and pressure the administration to revive the negotiations, decided togo public after a P.O.W. group asked him to speak in Washington duringthe coming Memorial Day weekend. The rhetoric is that We dont negotiatewith terrorists, Mr. Bergdahl said in the interview, describing political talkin Washington. And therefore what do we do? Well, you push it hard witheverything you have.

The talks encompass not only the prisoner exchange but also broader issuesaimed at bringing the war to an end. Pentagon officials said in a conferencecall with reporters on Wednesday, after Mr. Bergdahls comments becamepublic, that they sympathized with the parents anguish and that they wereworking hard to gain Sergeant Bergdahls release, although they declined tooffer details. If theyre angry and/or frustrated, thats certainlyunderstandable, said Col. David Lapan, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefsof Staff. I would say our leaders are frustrated as well.

The Times learned late last year that Sergeant Bergdahl was part of thenegotiations, but agreed to withhold the information at the request of theadministration and his family over concerns for his safety. On Wednesday,though, a newspaper in Hailey, The Idaho Mountain Express, published aninterview with Sergeant Bergdahls father describing the situation.

Both Mr. Bergdahl and his wife, Jani, said they were upset that althoughthey had had good relations with the State Department and the Pentagonduring the three years that their son has been missing, they had neverheard from President Obama. The two are Ron Paul supporters and haveturned increasingly against the war in Afghanistan, although they support

the presidents plan not to withdraw most American troops until 2014.

He has never contacted us, Jani Bergdahl said about Mr. Obama. Wehavent gotten a Hallmark card, we havent gotten a note signed by an aide,


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nothing. Is it because he thinks were not Democrats?

Mr. Bergdahl said that he had started to deal directly with the Taliban bye-mail in recent months, initially through a contact us tab on a TalibanWeb site, but then through a member of the Taliban he believes hasknowledge of his sons circumstances. Mr. Bergdahl said he believed thatthe Taliban would not harm his son, and said that he had told them thattheir videos of his son have had little impact on the American public andthat it would be more effective to direct their appeals to Mr. Obama. I toldthem I am doing what I can to see that the president understands thisissue, Mr. Bergdahl said.

Congress has to be given 30 days notice of any prisoner releases fromGuantnamo. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and a formerprisoner of war, has been among the most opposed in Congress totransferring the five Taliban detainees. In January, when he thought theprisoners were to be exchanged for a Taliban statement renouncingviolence, Mr. McCain lashed out at the deal, calling it bizarre and highly

questionable.

Through much of 2011, American negotiators engaged in a series ofintensifying contacts with Taliban representatives, culminating in anannouncement at the start of this year that the insurgents would soon opena negotiating office in Qatar. The office has not opened yet, however. SomeAmerican officials have pointed out as the talks stalled that there has beenno movement by the Taliban toward fulfilling their promise to distancethemselves publicly from Al Qaeda.

Mr. Bergdahl, 26, who grew up in Hailey, a town of 6,000 in the Northern

Rockies that is down the road from the Sun Valley ski resort, was capturedin a mountainous region along the Pakistani border where the Taliban havea large presence. The circumstances of his capture remain unclear. Initially,American military officials said he had walked off his outpost, but in a videothat the Taliban sent out a month later, he said he had been capturedwhen he lagged behind during a patrol.

Elisabeth Bumiller reported from Hailey, Idaho, and Matthew Rosenbergfrom Washington.

Date Collected: 5/11/2012Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/world/asia/pow-is-focus-of-talks-on-taliban-prisoner-swap.html?hpw&pagewanted=print

1.5.1.3. Afghan Police In Spotlight After Foiling Taliban Strike(back)May 10, 2012

Afghan Police In Spotlight After Foiling Taliban StrikeBy GRAHAM BOWLEYKABUL, Afghanistan An attack by six Taliban infiltrators in the easternprovince of Paktika on Thursday killed three police officers but was putdown before it reached the government offices that were its target, Afghan


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officials said.

The fighting again put the spotlight on the Afghan Local Police force, whichis trained by American Special Operations personnel and is seen as acritical hedge against the Taliban as Western forces begin withdrawing. TheAfghan Local Police force, which was part of the response to the Paktikaattack, has been the focus of intensified Taliban assaults as the annualfighting season has gotten under way.

The attack began when six gunmen wearing explosive vests under AfghanLocal Police uniforms tried to pass through a security checkpoint near thedistrict governors building. Police forces stopped the men to question them,and a gun battle broke out, eventually stretching to two hours before thelast attacker was killed.

Two attackers detonated their explosives during the fight, but no civ

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