Terrorism

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Pakistan Says Ringleaders in Red Mosque Are Wanted Terrorists

FoxNews.com

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Monday gave clerics more time to persuade defiant militants to lay down their arms and surrender a mosque they have defended against thousands of government troops, security officials said. The decision came at a high-level meeting grappling with how to crack the weeklong armed resistance at the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the heart of the capital. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said among the mediators would be Taqi Usmani, a former teacher of the besieged mosque's senior cleric, Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Some clerics, including Usmani, have attempted without success to persuade Ghazi to end the siege peacefully since the crisis erupted. The government claims the mosque is being defended by wanted terrorists. Click here for FOXNews.com's Asia center. A group of about 20 lawmakers from radical religious parties were stopped by soldiers from approaching the mosque as intense gunfire again erupted in the area mid-afternoon. The group was attempting to also act as mediators.

'Jihadist James Bond' Gets 10 Years for Running Extremist Web Sites

FoxNews.com

LONDON — An Al Qaeda-inspired computer expert who dubbed himself "the jihadist James Bond" was imprisoned for 10 years Thursday for running a network of extremist Web sites and hoarding videos of the murders of Americans Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl. Morocco-born Younis Tsouli, 23, who prosecutors said had uploaded guides to building suicide vests on to the Internet, used the online ID "irhabi007" — the Arabic word for terrorist and the code name of the fictional British spy. With accomplices Tariq al-Daour and Waseem Mughal — who were also jailed Thursday — Tsouli offered advice and motivation to would-be terrorists on a myriad of Web pages run from their London homes, prosecutors said. The group was the leading distributor of terrorist material on the Internet prior to the three being arrested in 2005, said Evan Kohlmann, a U.S.-based terrorism consultant who gave evidence in the case. "There are people, including law enforcers, who initially thought these guys were computer geeks or hackers," Kohlmann told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. "But they were a lot more dangerous

U.S. fears summer terror 'spectacular'

ABC News

A secret U.S. law enforcement report, prepared for the Department of Homeland Security, warns that al Qaeda is planning a terror "spectacular" this summer, according to a senior official with access to the document. "This is reminiscent of the warnings and intelligence we were getting in the summer of 2001," the official told ABCNews.com. U.S. officials have kept the information secret, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said today on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that the United States did not have "have any specific credible evidence that there's an attack focused on the United States at this point."

Pakistan expanding nuclear program

USA Today

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Satellite images show that Pakistan is building a new nuclear reactor that can produce weapons-grade plutonium, an American watchdog group said Thursday, warning that it could contribute to an atomic arms race with archrival India. A picture taken June 3 shows work progressing rapidly on the reactor at the Khushab nuclear site, 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the Institute of Science for International Security said. The development of the reactor and other nuclear-related activities "imply" that Pakistan has decided to "increase significantly its production of plutonium for nuclear weapons," the Washington-based institute said in a report analyzing the images.

U.S. envoy expects nuclear talks in July

USA Today

TOKYO — The top nuclear envoy for the United States said Wednesday that negotiations on North Korea's nuclear arms program are likely to resume in early July, but the communist government must first keep its promise to shut down a nuclear reactor. "We don't want to have the six-party talks before we've gotten going on shutting down the reactor," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters after meeting Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi. "The Chinese have some ideas about maybe we could do something early in July," Hill said when asked about the timing of the next round of talks. He also said he would rather the meeting not coincide with the Independence Day holiday: "I would like it immediately after the Fourth of July."

Iran says won't rule out using oil as a weapon

Reuters

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will not rule out using oil as a weapon if the United States resorts to military action against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, an Iranian oil official said in remarks published on Tuesday. "When the Americans say that military action in regard to the nuclear issue has not been put aside, Iran can also say that it will not put aside oil as a tool," Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, told Iran's Sharq newspaper. Washington says it wants a diplomatic end to a row over Iran's nuclear ambitions but has not ruled out force if that route fails. Iranian officials say they do not want to use oil as a weapon but have also said they might do so if pushed. The United States accuses Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

Climate change behind Darfur killing: UN's Ban

Breitbart.com

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the slaughter in Darfur was triggered by global climate change and that more such conflicts may be on the horizon, in an article published Saturday. "The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change," Ban said in a Washington Post opinion column. UN statistics showed that rainfall declined some 40 percent over the past two decades, he said, as a rise in Indian Ocean temperatures disrupted monsoons. "This suggests that the drying of sub-Saharan Africa derives, to some degree, from man-made global warming," the South Korean diplomat wrote.

Gates: Iraq progress will come, slowly

USA Today

BAGHDAD (AP) — Just two months ago the Pentagon's public message to Iraqi leaders was sharp and loud: Our patience is thinning, the clock is ticking. But as Defense Secretary Robert Gates returned Saturday from his fourth trip to Iraq in seven months, he appeared to take a softer tone, and a more wait-and-see approach. While U.S. leaders are still expressing frustration that the Iraqi government is not moving fast enough to enact political reforms that are hoped to temper the violence still raging, there is a sense that the message has been delivered, and any more pressure could do more harm than good. As he wrapped up his brief stop here, Gates talked about the challenges faced by the Iraqis as they struggle to patch together their fragile democracy, and he noted that change comes slowly.

Gates: US Missile Defense Plans Still On

ABC News

The U.S. will proceed with its plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe whether or not any agreement is reached on an alternative Russian proposal, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. Gates dismissed any thoughts that Russia's push for joint use of a radar station in Azerbaijan could replace the U.S. plan for radar and interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic. And he expressed doubts that there could be any agreement with the Russians by next month, when President Bush is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Gates: Iran leaders likely know of arms shipments

USA Today

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Iran's government likely knows about the shipment of weapons from Iran to Taliban militants in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday. Gates said the volume of weapons shipments makes it "difficult to believe" they're coming from smugglers "or that it's taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government." However, Gates said, there is no specific intelligence linking the Iranian government to the shipments. He made the comments on his way to a NATO conference in Brussels where he said he would encourage allies to meet earlier pledges to boost the alliance's mission in Afghanistan.

Official: Iranian Weapons Intercepted on Way to Taliban

FoxNews.com

PARIS — The United States has "irrefutable" evidence that Iran is transferring weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan, with the knowledge of the Iranian government, and NATO has intercepted some of the shipments, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday. "There's irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this," said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns on CNN. "It's certainly coming from the government of Iran. It's coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government." Speaking separately to The Associated Press, Burns also said that NATO needs to act to stop the shipments. The Iran-Afghanistan frontier is "a very long border. But the Iranians need to know that we are there and that we're going to oppose this." "It's a very serious question," he said, adding that Iran is in "outright violation" of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Terror Watch Looks South of U.S.

Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- The foiling of an alleged plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport is sharpening focus among law-enforcement agencies on the potential threats from within Islamic communities in the Caribbean and Latin America. Four Muslim men allegedly tied to radical Islamist groups in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana were charged Saturday with targeting fuel lines headed into Kennedy Airport in a bid to disrupt the U.S. economy. While U.S. Justice Department officials stressed the plot was far from operational, they said they were intensifying their focus on the potential for attacks coming from the Caribbean and ...

Ahmadinejad: It's 'Too Late' to Stop Iran's Nuke Program

FoxNews.com

TEHRAN, Iran — Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that it was "too late" to stop Iran's nuclear program and warned the U.S. and its allies not to push for new U.N. sanctions on Iran, which he compared to a lion sitting quietly in a corner. "We advise them not to play with the lion's tail," Ahmadinejad said, prompting applause from a room of reporters, Iranian officials and foreign dignitaries at a Tehran news conference. "It is too late to stop the progress of Iran," Ahmadinejad said. "Iran has passed the point where they wanted Iran to stop."

Commanders Say Push in Baghdad Is Short of Goal

New York Times

BAGHDAD, June 3 — Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city’s neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.

Terrorists: Cease-fire talk means U.S. defeat in Iraq

WorldNetDaily

TEL AVIV – Washington's announcement of talks with Iraqi militants about a cease-fire arrangement is a "big victory" for the insurgency and demonstrates the U.S. now recognizes the legitimacy of so-called terror groups, Palestinian terrorist leaders told WND. In a briefing with reporters earlier today, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said U.S. commanders at all levels are being empowered to reach out for talks with militants, tribes, religious leaders and others, including insurgents and sectarian rivals. "We are talking about cease-fires, and maybe signing some things that say they won't conduct operations against the government of Iraq or against coalition forces," Odierno told reporters in a video conference from Baghdad. Reacting to Odierno's announcement, Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesman and a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group, called truce talks with insurgents "a big victory for the resistance."

Taliban Chief's Death a Big U.S. Victory

ABC News

The killing of the top Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged fighter who orchestrated suicide attacks, beheadings and an ethnic massacre, marks a major victory for the U.S. campaign at a time of flagging Afghan support over civilian killings. As victims of Dadullah's brutality celebrated his death Sunday, analysts called the killing the most significant Taliban loss since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. But even NATO acknowledged that Dadullah, who directed some of the Taliban's most notorious violence, would soon be replaced.

Cheney makes unannounced visit to Baghdad to press reconciliation among rival Iraqi factions...

Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday on an unannounced visit, at a time when pressure from Washington is growing on the Iraqi government to meet political benchmarks aimed at healing sectarian divisions. John Roberts, the U.S. embassy information officer in Baghdad, said Cheney would meet with senior Iraqi officials. He gave no further details. Cheney is on a tour of the Middle East.

6 Arrested In New Jersey Terror Plot

CBS News

(CBS/AP) Six men described by U.S. federal prosecutors as "Islamic militants" were arrested on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible," authorities said Tuesday. The six were scheduled to appear in federal court in Camden later Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey.

Iraq exit could spell disaster, experts warn

CNN.com

(CNN) -- Pulling U.S. forces from Iraq could trigger catastrophe, CNN analysts and other observers warn, affecting not just Iraq but its neighbors in the Middle East, with far-reaching global implications. Sectarian violence could erupt on a scale never seen before in Iraq if coalition troops leave before Iraq's security forces are ready. Supporters of al Qaeda could develop an international hub of terror from which to threaten the West. And the likely civil war could draw countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran into a broader conflict. President Bush vetoed a war spending bill Tuesday precisely because the Democrat-led Congress required the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn by October 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.

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