FDD

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Some weeks ago I wrote about $5 million worth of British food for Katrina victims whose distribution was stymied by bureaucrats at the FDA and the Department of Agriculture.   

The story was generally ignored in the mainstream press although Cindy Sheehan couldn’t scratch herself without media analysis and TV camera crews following every finger-movement 

The food was never used.  It ended up being trucked around and then it was dropped off in an Arkansas warehouse.

It is still there. 

These British Army military rations were requested as a donation for Hurricane victims by the US State Department.

The flight to the US cost British taxpayers almost $5 million dollars.

CATM Applauds Jordan for Removing Terrorist TV Series

The Coalition Against Terrorist Media (CATM) applauded the Jordanian government for pulling from broadcast an infamous anti-Semitic television program that has become staple fare for terrorists seeking to incite hatred and violence.

Read the full press release and related media.

IRAN CALLS FOR ISRAEL TO "BE WIPED OFF THE MAP"

On October 26th, 2005, the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spoke at the "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran.  At the conference, Ahmadinejad called for the destruction of the democratic state of Israel, and spoke about the confrontation, as he sees it, between Islam and the West. 

For more on his statements and international reactions, see the latest FDD briefing here.

For further background see here, here, here and here.

And for reaction from the blogosphere see here, here and here.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Saddam Hussein’s trial started in Baghdad in front of five judges but has now been put off for a month.  It will start again November 28th, the Monday after our Thanksgiving weekend, likely televised.

This is the first of a series of trials that Saddam and various co-defendants are expected to face. They are accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity and they have been busy and practiced leaders in all of those endeavors. 

Saddam was arrogant, defiant and uncooperative in the Tribunal court –and briefly struggled with his guards after refusing to acknowledge his name and saying he was innocent. Outside, the courthouse was ringed with 10 foot blast walls, bomb dogs, dozens of soldiers and a tank.

Saddam is expected to face up to 14 different trials, though it is unlikely that all of them will actually take place. 

Saddam is being charged with a series of capital offenses and if execution is ordered it will take place within 30 days of the end of any appeal.  By hanging or firing squad.

Keep in mind that this is a man responsible for the savage murders of an estimated 300,000 people, most of whom disappeared into mass graves. And those figures ignore the hundreds of thousands of people who died in stupid, losing wars Saddam initiated against Iran and Kuwait.

UPDATE: Videos of the Egyptian Anti-Christian Pogrom

"Fearing a repeat of the recent riots against the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, which left four dead, over 80 wounded and seven churches defaced, the International Christian Union (ICU) and American Coptic Association (ACA) are calling on the U.S. Government and the United Nations to take immediate action to stop the bloodshed and destruction of churches.  Exclusive video footage released by the ICU/ACA today, on http://mychristianblood.blogspirit.com reveals the destruction of the Assemblies of God Church for Evangelical Copts in Moharam Bek, on Friday, Oct. 21."

More here.

CLIFF MAY: Take my Wives. Please!

"Al-Majd channels acknowledged this week that Saudi suicide bomber Mohammed Shathaf Al-Shehri, who attacked the Al-Hamra Oasis Village compound in Riyadh on May 12, 2003, was a math teacher and a hired comedian for the television station."

More in this article by Steven Stalinsky in the NY Sun.   

Hat tip: Kathryn Lopez.

CLIFF MAY: Need to Know

If you're following the Plame Blame Game story you must read Stephen Hayes' latest piece in the Weekly Standard.

Excerpt: Joseph Wilson's "central contention -- that he had seen documents about the alleged sale and determined that they were forgeries --was a fabrication. We know this because Wilson took his trip in February 2002 and the U.S. government did not receive those documents until October 2002."

There's much more.

CLIFF MAY: Iranian President Calls for Extermination of Israel

I forget: Is he one of the moderates?

BREAKING: Suicide Bombing In Hadera, Israel

A suicide bombing has taken place in the coastal Israel town of Hadera.  At least 4 people have been reported killed, and scores injured.  Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for the attack.

CLIFF MAY: Death Sentence

A fatwa for the murder of Tunisian writer Lafif Lakhdar has been issued by the Islamist website "Nahdha.net" -- run by a London-based fundamentalist cleric. 

A petition to British Prime Minister Tony Blair is being circulated by our friend, Stefania Lapenna, in Italy. It’s here.

CLIFF MAY: Weekly Notes & Comments

KA-CHING! KA-CHING! Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia is "likely to generate $163 billion of oil revenue this year, the most in more than two decades."

How much of this money do you think will go to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa?

How much will go to helping the residents of the West Bank have decent housing and build farms and factories that will provide jobs, goods and services?

How much will go to terrorists? How much will go to fund propaganda justifying and inciting terrorism?

There's more here. Hat tip: Anne Korin.

Read more Notes & Comments in this week's e-newsletter.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Our friend Doug Farah, the fine investigative reporter and former West Africa Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, made the point to us in a conversation the other day:  the US needs some fresh ideas in their campaign to cut off the flow of money to terrorists.   

Doug said the current tactics in opposition to money laundering are based on US government experience with the drug cartels, experience gained and developed in the 1980’s.  That strategy relies heavily on regulation of the formal financial system. Intelligence work plays only a secondary role. 

These strategies are not working, Doug says.  We think he is right.  Terrorists now take money generated by legitimate business or legitimate charity and divert smaller portions for illegal purposes.  This is a kind of “reverse money laundering” and is hard to detect or stop.  In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, this was the principal tool of the Bush administration. It grabbed and kept about $130 million from charities and some other groups being used to finance terrorism.  It designated some specific people as financiers of terrorism, almost all of it of them of the Mideastern jihadist variety.   

The problem is the terrorists are increasingly savvy.  They have been changing their methods to stay a step ahead of the US and Western democracies and their law enforcement and intelligence counter-terrorism activities.  Al-Qaeda and its allies, Doug Farah says, haven’t relied on the formal financial sector for years.  They no longer use banks but have turned to the ancient Hawala method of money transfer, or they deal in precious gems or gold or smuggled commodities and their financial networks are in offshore tax havens whose names change constantly.

We can cut of the flow of terrorist money.  Ours is a sophisticated society and government.  We just need to gather sufficient will.

CLIFF MAY: The Petroleum Bomb

Jim Woolsey and George Shultz on why continuing U.S. dependence on foreign oil is intolerable. (Woolsey was Director of Central Intelligence under President Clinton. He is a Distinguished Advisor of FDD and Co-Chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger. George Shultz was Secretary of State and also serves as Co-Chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger.)

CLIFF MAY: Anti-Christian Pogrom in Egypt?

“Three people were killed and over 80 others were wounded in yesterday's demonstrations, and according to eyewitnesses; many Christian-owned shops and jewelry stores located on Isis street, Ragheb Street and in Ghorbal district were looted and/ or set on fire , many vehicles were also set on fire including police vehicles and 3 fire trucks.”

More here. Hat tip: Andrew Stuttaford.

CLIFF MAY: Stability in Syria?

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The last-minute alterations made to the Detlev Mehlis report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri may have been made under pressure by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Israel Radio reported Friday afternoon. 

A diplomatic source reported that Annan had an interest in removing the name of Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother and brother-in-law, along with other important Syrian officials, from the list of suspects in the Hariri killing. 

Assad's brother and brother-in-law had previously been implicated in having involvement in the Hariri assassination.

Annan, according to speculations, was concerned that the harsh report could cause political instability in Syria, perhaps even leading to an overthrow of the Assad regime, and thus preferred a watered-down version of the report.

Glen Reynolds notes:  “Oh, yeah, we wouldn't want that. Are there any tyrants Annan won't cover for?”

I’d add this: The U.N. today includes democratic nations and dictatorial despotic regimes. Institutionally, the UN hasn’t much preference between the two. If anything, it favors the latter.

CATM Praises U.S. Senate Action Against Hezbollah's Al-Manar Television

Washington, D.C. (October 21, 2005) – The Coalition Against Terrorist Media (CATM) praised the Senate for unanimously adopting an amendment aimed at naming Hezbollah's global satellite channel, al-Manar, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity.

The amendment was introduced to the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Gordon Smith (R-OR).  It urges the Treasury Department to name al-Manar to the SDGT list. The unanimous voice vote yesterday puts the entire Senate on record in its concern about al-Manar. 

Read the full press release.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

The head of the Marxist Leninist Workers Party, an arm of the Irish Republican Army –the IRA –has been indicted for counterfeiting US $100 bills in cahoots with the North Korean government.

Sean Garland has been arrested and charged in Belfast along with five other IRA members and some North Koreans.

The $100 bills were described by the US Secret Service in Washington as “of very high quality. “ Garland allegedly bought the bills from North Korean government officials at a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Apparently trying to hide his connection with North Korea, Garland allegedly told friends the counterfeit notes were made in Russia.

Last month some Chinese nationals, all men, were arrested in Los Angeles for trafficking in counterfeit US $100 bills printed in North Korea.

The indictment says Garland would use official Communist Workers Party trips to meet North Koreans and purchase the new Ben Franklin $100 notes in a half dozen European countries, including Germany, Denmark, the UK and Russia.

The indictment also says North Korea was using its diplomats in those countries to supply the notes to Garland and his IRA friends.

For information on this week's episode of Danger Zone, featuring former FBI director Louis Freeh, click here.

CLIFF MAY: Missions Possible; Kill Terrorists, Support Democrats

From today's Scripps Howard News Service:

After last week's constitutional vote, what's America's primary mission in Iraq? The same as it's been all along: to hunt down terrorists and insurgents, to eliminate Islamo-fascists, including both al-Qaeda forces and the Saddam Hussein loyalists who learned the wrong lesson when they were spared by American troops in 2003. The chattering classes say that mission is not going well. Most Americans in uniform disagree. Read More.

Read the Spanish translation.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Here’s a story you might not have heard:  Some of the vehicles used in car bombings that have killed US soldiers and Iraqi civilians in Iraq were stolen from Americans in the United States. 

The FBI's counterterrorism unit is looking into US-based theft rings after discovering that some of the vehicles came from the US, says the Boston Globe, quoting unnamed US officials.

So far, there is no evidence that the cars were stolen specifically to be used as bombs but there is a lot of evidence that a broad criminal network, that includes terrorists and Iraqi insurgents, is responsible.

The inquiry began after coalition troops raided a bomb-making factory in Fallujah, Iraq last November.  Inside they found an SUV registered in Texas that was being prepared for a bombing mission.

Investigators said they are comparing several other cases where vehicles stolen in the United States wound up in Syria or other Middle East countries and ultimately were transferred into the hands of Iraqi insurgent groups -- including Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab Al Zarqawi.

Some of the cars had false VIN’s on them –Vehicle Identification Numbers - re-stamped into the metal of the car’s frames.

Investigators believe the cars were loaded onto ships in the ports of Los Angeles, Seattle, and Houston - ended up in Syria, and then were driven across the border into Iraq and delivered to terrorists.

The car bomb has become the top weapon in the world for carrying out terrorist attacks.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Dollars for Dictators

From today's Opinion Journal:

Following last month's United Nations world summit, the poverty professionals are hard at work, having just marked World Poverty Eradication Day with powwows at U.N. offices around the globe and calls for global taxation to fulfill the U.N.'s "millennium development goals," which propose to halve poverty by the year 2015. Among the participants have been Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, the despotic duo, who took time out from presiding over the regress of their respective nations to jet to Rome for the 60th anniversary of the U.N.'s World Food and Agriculture Organization, whence they lambasted the U.S. and Britain and called for more aid and debt relief for the developing world. Read More.

JON SNOW: The Trial of Saddam Hussein

The first of what is likely to be a series of trials of Saddam Hussein is scheduled to begin tomorrow.  For a quick overview of the specifics, check out the latest FDD backgrounder.

What can be expected on the first day of the trial?  A formal reading of the charges and a statement by the defense.  The defense is expected to try to use the media as a propaganda tool and has stated that they intend to shift the focus of the trial from the charges against Saddam to a trial of American actions in Iraq.  The defense can also be expected to seek an adjournment within the first day or two of the trial, which the judges may grant, while they review defense motions for a delay of trial.

We'll be following the case closely, and posting news and analysis here.  Stay tuned...

CLIFF MAY: Weekly Notes & Comments

IRAQ THE VOTE: Here's what one Iraqi, the blogger Hammorabi, has to say: "This is the first time for the Iraqis to vote for their own constitution. It is indeed the first time in the Middle East especially the Arab countries. ...This is a historic day and the political process moving forward in spite of the efforts of all of the evils to disable or delay it. ...how nice it is to be free." More from him here.

Read more Notes & Comments in this week's e-newsletter.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

From Madrid ... you might have noticed this first story, but not perhaps in its entirety. The second story is a doozy.

A Syrian man accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington has been convicted and sentenced in Spanish court. 

Imad Yarkas, who is 41, had been jailed along with 17 others convicted on charges of aiding al-Qaeda. All are men from North Africa or Syria.

The prosecutor asked the judge for a sentence of 74,000 years for Yarkas.  He said he based the notional sentence on the deaths of 3,000 people.

The judge gave Yarkas 27 years instead.

Prosecutors were disappointed.

Do the math. Yarkas will pay for each person killed at the rate of about 3 days in jail for each life taken. You can get more than that for shoplifting.

Missing from many news accounts is that a reporter for al-Jazeera, the Arabic News network, was sentenced in the same trial to seven years for aiding al-Qaeda.

Tayssir Alouni is the journalist.  He was chummy with Bin Laden and once interviewed him after 9/11.

He was charged with collaborating with al-Qaeda and received 7 years.

WALID PHARES: Iraqi Victory, American Achievement

From today's World Defense Review:

On October 15, 2005, an historic Iraqi victory was registered in the 6,235 polling centers across the country. Millions of Iraqis cast their ballot for a "yes" or a "no" to the new constitution.

Regardless of the final results, the political process in the post-Baath Iraq is emerging as a victor against the stubborn terror attacks by al Qaida and the Saddam regime remnants. From that angle alone, the bloc of 15.4 million registered voters – including those who voted "no," or weren't able to participate because of fear – have defeated one more time the forces of Jihadism and Baathism.

On January 30, the very first free election in Iraq dealt the first blow to the Terrorists. The October 15 referendum produced the second defeat to the Jihadists. Here is why. Read More.

ANDY McCARTHY: Michael Rubin on Iraq & the Bottom Line

AEI's Michael Rubin pens a terrific op-ed in this morning's Wall Street Journal.  Read the whole thing here (registration required), but Michael's conclusion, about keeping our eyes on the bottom line of Iraq's steady march, is worth repeating at some length:

When people fear for their future, they invest in gold; jewelry and coins can be sewn into clothes and smuggled out of the country. When people feel confident about the future, they buy real estate. Property prices have skyrocketed across Iraq. Decrepit houses in Sadr City, a Shiite slum on the outskirts of Baghdad, can easily cost $45,000. Houses in upper-middle-class districts of Mansour and Karrada can cost more than 20 times that. Restaurant owners spend $50,000 on top-of-the-line generators to keep open despite the frequent blackouts. In September 2005, there were 40 buildings nine stories or higher under construction in the Kurdish city of Sulaymani. Five years ago, there were none. Iraqis would not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on real estate if they weren't confident that the law would protect their investment.

Iraqis now see the fruit of foreign investment. A year ago in Baghdad, Iraqis drank water and soft drinks imported from neighboring countries. Now they drink water bottled in plants scattered across Iraq. When I visited a Baghdad computer shop last spring, my hosts handed me a can of Pepsi. An Arabic banner across the can announced, "The only soft drink manufactured in Iraq." In August, a Coca-Cola executive in Istanbul told me their Baghdad operation is not far behind. Turkish investors in partnership with local Iraqis have built modern hotels in Basra.

Cameras and reporters do not lie, but they do not always give a full perspective. Political brinkmanship devoid of context breeds panic. Beheadings and blood sell copy, but do not accurately reflect Iraq. Political milestones give a glimpse of the often-unreported determination that Iraqis and longtime visitors see daily. Bombings and body bags are tragic. But they do not reflect failure. Rather, they represent the sacrifice that both Iraqis and Americans have made for security and democracy. The referendum, refugee return, real estate and investment show much more accurately -- and objectively -- Iraq's slow but steady progress.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Bulgarian police in the northern Danube city of Russe nabbed almost seven pounds of hafnium, a material used in the manufacture of radioactive "dirty bombs" 

It was being smuggled into Romania at the time.

Intelligence sources believe the potentially lethal material was destined for Iran and their nuclear weapons or for use by terrorist bombers.

A criminal organization in Bucharest was the go-between in the smuggling.

The hafnium was concealed in an automobile driven by a Bulgarian man.  He was arrested… but two Romanian companions were released by police and have disappeared.

The corruption of the Balkan police forces is legendary so the release is not a surprise...but law enforcement corruption will likely be a stumbling block for Bulgaria and Romania in joining the European Union.

CLIFF MAY: Political Hygiene

"There was never a chance -- as some liberal fantasists still contend -- that more patient American diplomacy could have succeeded in creating an international consensus to enforce U.N. resolutions on Iraq, much less to depose Saddam. And second, the war in Iraq was not only an act of national liberation but also of international political hygiene."

A very good WSJ editorial is here.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Intelligence authorities say they believe that an Islamic terror cell was plotting attacks on the Paris Métro.

Police arrested nine suspected plotters, including an Islamic terrorist, released from prison just two years ago.

The suspected targets included the Métro, an unnamed Paris airport and the Paris headquarters of the DST- Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, the French intelligence and counterterrorism agency. 

The reports did not cite the specific airport: Orly or Charles de Gaulle.

A DST officer told me the cell had been in contact with Al Qaeda.

The recent raid came after authorities were tipped by Algerian Intelligence which had arrested a suspect in Algiers a week ago and had squeezed information from him.   

The suspect’s wife was one of the group of nine arrested in a raid in Evreux, about 50 miles northwest of Paris. Among those apprehended was Safe Bourada, an Islamic terrorist freed from prison in 2003.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Frenchmen Fried?

From National Review Online:

Even the French have finally discovered the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal. With the arrest in Paris this week of a former French ambassador to the U.N., Jean-Bernard Merimee, alleged to have received illicit and lucrative contracts to buy oil from Saddam Hussein's U.N.-sanctioned regime, the French newspapers are now aflutter over "petrole contre nourriture." Read more.

CLIFF MAY: Is This Not What the FDD has been Saying for Four Years?

"More than half of the battle is taking place on the battlefield of the media."

But this quote is not from us. It's from Zawihiri -- in his letter to Zarqawi. An excellent WSJ editorial on the letter is here.

NEWS ALERT: Al-Qaeda's Strategy Outlined in Letter From Zawahiri to Zarqawi

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a letter between two senior al-Qaeda leaders, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, dated July 9, 2005. 

The letter is available here in both English and Arabic. The Washington Post has an article on the letter here.

And one informed observer sends this brief analysis:

Today the United States Government released a 6,000 word letter from al-Qaida’s number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The letter was obtained in the course of counterterrorism operations in Iraq.

It is an extraordinary document. The Zawahiri letter provides a candid, chilling, and comprehensive view of al-Qaida's strategy in Iraq and their global aims. It also puts to rest any question about whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terrorism; the scope and scale of al-Qaida's ambitions; the extremist and malignant ideology that guides Islamic radicalism; and the stakes of this struggle.

The letter clearly states al-Qaida’s long-term strategy: (a) expel the United States and its Coalition allies from Iraq; (b) impose a radical Islamic government; and (c) use the territory as a base to expand its reign and attack Iraq’s neighbors and beyond.   

At the same time, the letter reflects Zawahiri’s concern that developments in Iraq are turning against al-Qaida. For example, the letter details Zawahiri’s concerns that Zarqawi’s violence is undermining public support for al-Qaida in Iraq.

CLIFF MAY: Weekly Notes & Comments

CUTTING OFF HEADS IS ONE THING -- BUT NO HOLDING HANDS! From the London Times: "A vision of an Islamic society that bans mixed dancing and sternly disapproves of homosexuality has been given by Mahmoud Zahar, the most senior leader of Hamas in Gaza. After controversies when a Hamas-led council halted a dance festival and Islamist gunmen stopped a rap band performing in Gaza, Dr. Zahar defended the enforcement of a strict interpretation of Islam. 'A man holds a woman by the hand and dances with her in front of everyone. Does that serve the national interest?'"

You get it now? The problem with suicide bombing is that it can lead to dancing.

The rest of the London Times story is here.

Hat tip: Andrew Stuttaford.

Read more Notes & Comments in this week's e-newsletter.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq has taken over the insurgency against the West says General Richard Zahner, the Army’s top military intelligence officer.

In an interview in Baghdad, Zahner said this is “an insurgency that’s been high jacked by a terrorist campaign.” Zahner pointed to Abu Musab Zarqawi as its leader in an interview with Bradley Graham of the Washington Post.   

The General says that Zarqawi and his foreign Jihadists have supplanted the Baath Party, the pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents who have been so troublesome for so long.

CLIFF MAY: Al-Jazeera Signs David Frost

That was the week that was. I wish I were joking. Howard Kurtz’ Washington Post story (quoting me) is here.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: U.N. Procurement Scandal: Secret Information Was Leaked to a Bidder

FDD's Claudia Rosett and FOX News's George Russell have a new piece:

On the morning of Nov. 6, 2003, an e-mail sped between two business executives at two private firms, bearing an important tip-off about an impending and highly confidential United Nations business deal.

Read the full article here.

Walid Phares: After Bali, New York a "recidivist" target?

Several indicators, including exchanges on the chat rooms (on the ansar among others) over the past days, show a strategic intention, or let's call it an intense focus on "recidivism." What was portrayed as "the success of the second strike of Bali," was used by chatters to call for "second" and more strikes on ex-attacked targets. One sentence was very indicative: "kama duribat Bali marratein, satudrab mudunun kafira ukhra." Translation: "As how Bali was hit twice, so will other infidel cities be hit as well." The term "twice" is indicative of the high Jihadi excitement to strike two times: the thrill of psychological effect based on what some Jihadi have called "abathiyat al tassaddi lil mujahidin."  Translation: "The impossibility to stop the Jihadists." In simple English, if they decide to hit the same city twice, they will, with no obstruction. Hence psychologically, a recidivist strike on New York is high on the Jihadists agenda. Moreover..

JON SNOW: Internal Palestinian Violence on the Rise

Little Green Footballs noted this AP article today, and pointed out the damage it is causing to the rule of Mahmoud Abbas.

More interesting is this line from the piece:

A top security official said more Palestinians were killed in internal violence this year than by Israeli troops.

There has been anecdotal evidence for some time indicating that the Palestinian population is beginning to turn against the use of terrorism.  If this security official is correct, perhaps the Palestinians people will recognize the damage that the various armed groups are having within Palestinian society and start taking concrete steps to disarm them.  With Israel out of Gaza, the Palestinians have lost a major scapegoat.  The world awaits their next move.

WALID PHARES: Bush's speech: Finally the "ISM" word was uttered

Finally, four years after the bloodiest Jihadi attack on the Western Hemisphere, and perhaps worldwide, the President of the United States named the enemy: He used the "ISM" word. It was lastly uttered..

In his speech this morning Text, President Bush said: "Some call this (ideology) evil Islamic radicalism, others, militant Jihadism, still others, Islamo-facism. Whatever it's called, this ideology (...) serves a vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire." Then he goes on to describe its strategies, the US counter plans and the rationale of American moves around the world to fight the War on Terror. While I'll post later a global analysis of the speech, looking at the advances and some misses, one significant step has been made: Ladies and Gentlemen: we have the names of the enemy..

CLIFF MAY: Why Bali?

From today's Scripps Howard News Service:

The latest suicide-bombings in Bali should make us stop and think: What did the people of Bali do to so anger Militant Islamists? Balinese troops are not battling Baathist insurgents and al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq. Bali was not involved in toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan. Indeed, Bali's foreign policy can hardly be regarded as objectionable by anyone – because Bali has no foreign policy. Read more.

Read the Spanish translation.

RICHARD CARLSON: Dispatches from the Danger Zone

Here’s a name from the past:  Ambassador Zaeef, Abdul Salam Zaeef.  Not exactly a household moniker but you may remember him as the spokesman for the Taliban back in 2001 - black silk turban, heavy beard, long, horsy face.

Zaeef was on American TV from the side porch of his home in Pakistan almost daily after 9/11 and on the run-up to the Afghanistan bombing by the US in October of 2001.

I visited Zaeef at his house in Islamabad for a few days that October, the week before the US attack on Afghanistan. 

Zaeef was still taking his orders from Mullah Omar, the Taliban Chief but after the US military bombed the hell out of Afghanistan Zaeef seemed to disappear. No surprise there. I called his cell phone a few times but he never answered.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Procurement Scandal: New Conflict of Interest in Annan's Inner Circle?

FDD's Claudia Rosett and FOX News's George Russell have a new piece:

United Nations investigators scrambling to discover the extent of a bribery scandal spreading out from the organization's procurement department may soon be looking toward the building's 38th floor — the U.N's executive offices.

Read the full article here.

Advertising on Terror TV

From the Wall Street Journal:

In one episode of the 29-part Ramadan special "Al-Shatat, The Diaspora," a rabbi orders his young son to kidnap a Christian friend so that his throat can be slit and the blood drained into a bedpan to be used to make food for Passover. The rest of the series tells the usual anti-Semitic plot of alleged Jewish aspirations for world domination. This TV show is just one example of the programming run by Hezbollah's global satellite channel, al-Manar. While the spread of this kind of hatred is despicable in any context, when it is broadcast to millions of viewers by terrorists intent on destroying lives, it becomes a weapon of global jihad.

WALID PHARES: Blood in Bali

Summary of analysis: The Bali II bombing's most salient dimension is "terrorism recidivism." Compare it to a second Mohammad Atta team hitting Manhattan's skyscrapers next September: the immediate reaction of New Yorkers would be disbelief. But beyond the psychological effect what is behind the multi-targeted attack? First, and while Indonesian authorities assert they've warned from new attacks, "Jemaah" and its sisters have never really stopped their war despite the arrest of their spiritual mentor. Second, and as well noted by our colleague and expert Zachary Abuza, the group changed its tactics, and more precisely the delivery system. In my piece published today Blood in Bali, I raise five themes:

1)  "Jemaah" is not a seasonal group, it is network that recruits, deploys, gathers resources, strikes, absorbs reaction (including the arrests of its leaders and mentor), and reorganizes.

2) The jihadists' aim at what I call "triggering valves." Bali is one of them. Samuel Huntington called such areas in his book The Clash of Civilizations "fault lines."

3) The Bali second attack aim at economic crumbling and rallying other groups

4) Focusing on Bali would release attention from other spots in Indonesia for sinister activities

5) "Jemaah"'s relations with al Qaida are complex. They may fluctuate operationally, but they are strategic globally.

ANDY McCARTHY: "The Biggest Narcostate in History"

It's Afghanistan, according to retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the former drug czar and current West Point professor who, with the support of the Defense Department, recently conducted a fact-finding visit to the region. 

The Washington Times reports that, in a late summer, Pentagon-supported visit to the region, McCaffrey observed "an obvious link between the money gained from the 482 metric tons of opium that Afghanistan currently produces a year, and the equipment terrorist fighters were acquiring."  He asked, Is there a relationship between $2 billion in this impoverished 14th-century desperate land, and the appearance of brand-new guns and shiny camping gear? Of course there is. ... And we are seeing bunches of opium and heroin appear in the Persian Gulf, headed into Iraq."

The WashTimes report, found here, continues:

Afghanistan is the largest opium producer in the world. It also produces highly addictive opium derivatives -- heroin and morphine -- inside the country....  Under NATO, Britain is the lead nation for Afghanistan's drug-eradication program, and is working with the German NATO force to create a national drug court. The DEA has 17 agents helping train counternarcotics forces. ... But the general ... said their efforts were not enough. "It is the biggest narcostate in history, it dominates every other reality in Afghanistan," he said. "We cannot achieve our purposes, unless we not only build roads, clinics and democracy, but also counter this massive criminal threat."