Unrelated Stories.

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 00:53

Quote:

Immigration authorities name arrested Pakistanis
Security unit sees 19 men as a threat

Stewart Bell
National Post

TORONTO - Immigration authorities released the names yesterday of 19 Pakistanis whose arrests have sparked fears an Islamic extremist cell may have been plotting attacks in Canada.

Canadian anti-terrorism investigators said the network displayed a suspicious pattern of behaviour that included living in "clusters," studying flight training and visiting a nuclear power plant late at night.

A national security unit composed of RCMP and immigration officials also tied the group to the theft of a gauge containing radioactive Cesium-137, considered a likely component of a so-called dirty bomb.

The Immigration and Refugee Board identified them as Jahan Zaib Sawhney, Yousaf Rasheed, Aqeel Ahmed, Muhammad Asif Aziz, Kashif Siddique, Mohammed Asif, Muhammad Waliu Siddiqui, Mohammad Akhtar, Muhammad Waheed, Sajjad Ahmad, Muhammed Imran, Fahim Kayani, Imran Younas Khan, Manzoor Qadar Joyia, Zahoor Hussain, Saif Ulla Khan, Anwar-Ur-Rehman Mohammed, Muhammed Naeem and Khurran Shazad Toor.

No further information was released. The men, who came to Canada on fraudulent visas and lived in the Toronto area, were scheduled to appear in court tomorrow and Thursday.

Police launched an investigation called Project Thread in February after an immigration officer discovered that a Canadian business school where the Pakistanis said they were studying did not exist.

The probe found the Ottawa Business College was a front that sold acceptance letters, transcripts and diplomas to foreign students, 31 of whom fraudulently used the school to enter Canada.

Most are between 18 and 33 and have connections to Pakistan's Punjab province, noted for its Sunni Muslim extremism, authorities say. They began arriving in January, 1998. The last entered Canada a week before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Rather than studying, they lived together in groups of four or five, in apartments furnished with only mattresses and computers. One apartment had airplane schematics and pictures of guns on the walls.

One of those arrested was enrolled at a commercial flight school and would overfly the Pickering nuclear power plant near Toronto. Two associates of the group were caught at the same nuclear facility at 4:15 a.m. one night, claiming they were going to the beach.

A roommate of one of the men gave a landlord a letter of reference from Global Relief Foundation, which has been sanctioned for providing financial support to al-Qaeda.

The anti-terrorism unit "determined that based upon the structure of this group, their associations and connected events, there is a reasonable suspicion that these persons pose a threat to national security."

Mohammed Syed, a Toronto lawyer who represents two of the men, accused the government of racism and said authorities are over-reacting to the Sept. 11 attacks. He called the case flimsy.

Since the 9/11 attacks, Canadian authorities have arrested several suspected members of the Osama bin Laden network, which trained thousands of radical Muslims and dispatched them around the world to become sleeper agents of terrorism.

Canadian intelligence documents relating to the arrest of one of them, Mohamed Harkat, claim that bin Laden "is trying to obtain chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Furthermore, evidence demonstrates that bin Laden has made significant progress in achieving this end."

sbell@nationalpost.com

© Copyright 2003 National Post

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/sto...C-7192DB9CF648

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 00:54

Quote:

REGION: Iran lashes out at Britain and Argentina over former ambassador’s detention

* Demands formal apology for the arrest
* Believes diplomat became ‘victim of a plot’

By Farhad Pouladi

TEHRAN: Iran has demanded a British apology for the arrest of its former ambassador to Argentina and slapped economic sanctions on Buenos Aires for issuing an international arrest warrant in connection with a 1994 bombing.

“I hope that the British government will swiftly go back on this incorrect action and apologize,” the radio quoted reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami as saying Sunday.

Hadi Soleimanpur was arrested in Durham, northeast England on Thursday, on suspicion of involvement in the bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in the Argentine capital that killed 85 and injured 300 when he was ambassador to the south American country.

On Saturday, the foreign ministry summoned both Argentine and British charges d’affaires, Ernesto Alvarez and Matthew Gould, to protest strongly against Soleimanpur’s arrest.

Iran told Alvarez on Saturday that it was slapping economic sanctions on Argentina over the affair.

Gould, in the absence of British ambassador Richard Dalton, was summoned again to the foreign ministry Sunday to be questioned about London’s response to Tehran’s request for the former diplomat’s immediate release, Iranian state radio said.

Soleimanpur, 47, who was attending Durham University, had been in Britain on a student visa since February last year.

One of several Iranian diplomats sought by Argentine authorities on charges of plotting the 1994 attack, he was among a group of eight for whom Argentina issued international arrest warrants earlier this month.

Britain has remanded Soleimanpur in custody until late August when a London court will rule on an Argentine extradition request. Khatami warned that the Islamic republic would never accept an extradition and “let this ugly and lying conspiracy take place”. The conservative daily Kayhan called Saturday for the British ambassador to be expelled, in an editorial headlined “British ambassador out”.

“Iranian lawmakers believe that the former Iranian ambassador to Argentina, Hadi Soleimanpur, has fallen victim to a plot (masterminded) by the triangle of evil (that is) Israel, the United States and Britain”, the English-language Tehran Times said Sunday.

Tehran has had turbulent ties with London since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The arrest of Soleimanpur is another blow to Iran’s foreign relations, which are already dogged by charges that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons and a row with Canada over the death in custody of an Iranian-Canadian journalist. —AFP

Argentina plays down Iranian decision to suspend economic, cultural ties

BUENOS AIRES: The Argentine government on Saturday played down news of Tehran’s decision to suspend diplomatic cooperation following Britain’s arrest of a former Iranian ambassador to Buenos Aires.

“We are taking it with caution,” a government source said, adding that the government was trying to avoid any escalation of a row between Argentina and Iran. London moved Thursday to detain Hadi Soleimanpour, who was Iran’s ambassador to Argentina in 1994 when suspected Islamic militants blew up a Jewish community centre here, killing 85 people and injuring 300. “We think Iran may be planning to magnify the issue, which could lead to an escalation in measures ultimately leading to a break-off of relations,” the government source told private news agency NA. The ex-ambassador has lived in Britain since February 2002 on a student visa. An Argentine judge requested his arrest on August 13, along with that of 12 other Iranians who are believed to be resident in Iran. The official Iranian news agency Irna reported Tehran’s diplomatic measure against Argentina on Saturday. Argentine business coordinator in Tehran Ernesto Alvarez was summoned to the Foreign Ministry where Americas Director General Mehdi Mohtachami told him Iran was making an “energetic” protest over the detention, Irna said. —AFP

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-8-2003_pg4_10

Kuciwalker · August 27, 2003, 00:57

And the point is...?

Nubclear · August 27, 2003, 00:58

What's the point of this thread?

Nubclear · August 27, 2003, 00:59

Crosspost.

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 01:00

Quote:

Ottawa investigates rape charge in Kazemi case

Tom Blackwell
National Post

Monday, August 25, 2003
ADVERTISEMENT

The federal government and Lawyers without Borders are looking into allegations that Iranian interrogators raped a Montreal photo-journalist before killing her, then pumped chemicals into her body to speed decomposition.

Both the Department of Foreign Affairs and the human rights group say they have asked Iranian authorities investigating Zahra Kazemi's death to try to verify the latest claims.

Hamid Mojtahedi, a Toronto lawyer who is in Iran on behalf of the rights group, stressed the reports are completely uncorroborated at this point.

"Some sources advised us that this might have been the case and we are trying to substantiate it," he told the National Post yesterday in an interview from Tehran.

"We had a meeting with the prosecutor-general of Tehran, who has basically seized the case for some time.... He promised to co-operate with us and advise us if any such thing did happen."

A Texas-based Iranian opposition group went further yesterday, claiming it has received convincing reports from sources in the country's intelligence community that the photographer was raped and chemicals used to more quickly erase the evidence.

But Mr. Mojtahedi said Lawyers Without Borders is anxious to maintain its neutrality on the issue. To overplay the reports now "may very well muddy the water, it may very well hinder any investigation the authorities may want to carry out," he said.

"Based on what we have been told at this stage, we should really consider them to be rumours."

Mr. Mojtahedi is in Iran partly to try to get official recognition for his organization to observe future trials, including those of anyone charged in Ms. Kazemi's death.

France Bureau, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs Department, said Canadian authorities are aware of the rape accusations and have also asked local officials to investigate.

"We're looking at it, but we haven't received any corroborating information from Iranian authorities," she said.

The embassy in Tehran has asked for an official briefing on the status of the whole Kazemi investigation, Ms. Bureau added.

Ms. Kazemi, 54, an Iranian ex-patriot based in Montreal, died on July 10, three weeks after authorities arrested her. She had been photographing student-led protests outside a jail in the Islamic republic.

Iranian officials initially denied there had been any wrongdoing, but later confirmed she died as a result of being struck on the head by her captors. A judicial inquiry led to the arrest of five Intelligence Ministry agents, two of whom were released on bail this month.

Canada pulled its ambassador from Tehran after Ms. Kazemi was buried in her birthplace, the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, against the wishes of Canadian authorities and her son, who lives in Montreal.

Aryo Pirouznia of the Dallas-based Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran said intelligence sources told his group Ms. Kazemi had been raped after she slapped one of her interrogators, who had hit her.

Mr. Pirouznia's group is dedicated to replacing the current Islamic regime of Iran with a secular, democratic government.

He said the officers had already forced Ms. Kazemi to say she had been part of the counter-revolutionary movement in Iran, and were trying to get her to confess to working for U.S. intelligence.

Officials later decided to inject her body with chemicals that would decompose the remains faster, making it more difficult to perform a post-mortem, he charged.

The committee had actually heard the report more than two weeks ago, but did not go public to avoid being accused of fabricating the story to embarrass Iranian hardliners, he said.

The group only posted a report on its Web site after Mr. Mojtahedi was quoted about the case on an Iranian-language radio station.

"It is so big, it is so horrible that we didn't want to put it up," said Mr. Pirouznia.

tblackwell@nationalpost.com

© Copyright 2003 National Post

http://www.nationalpost.com/national...A-37D6E27D69D2

Kuciwalker · August 27, 2003, 01:01

Ok...

Nubclear · August 27, 2003, 01:01

Excuse me? Can anyone hear me? Whats the point of this thread? Thanks. Just tell me if you can't hear me.

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 01:01

I'll let you come up with the points. All I ask is that you make your own threads on them.

Nubclear · August 27, 2003, 01:07

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 04:16

Now, now...if you cannot find a relationship between any of these stories, that's fine. If you can, on the other hand, I'd like to hear what you think.

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 04:22

Quote:

Aug. 13, 2003. 10:15 PM

U.S. can't talk to Iran's Al Qaeda detainees
Washington suspects top level terrorists held by Tehran

ALI AKBAR DAREINI ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN - Iran said today it won't allow the United States to interrogate senior Al Qaeda operatives in Iranian custody.
"No," was Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's brief reply when asked if Iran would allow U.S. investigators access.

Earlier this week an official at Saudi Arabia's Embassy, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 10 to 15 Al Qaeda suspects had been detained in Iran, among them Saad bin Laden, son of accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Today, Adel al-Jubeir, a Saudi foreign policy adviser, told CNN he also had information Saad bin Laden was in Iran.

"We suspect that he may now be Iran but we are not sure. There is intelligence that he may be there."

"We have asked the Iranians about him as well as other Al Qaeda members who may be in Iran and we have indication from the Iranians that they will extradite any Saudi member of Al Qaeda to Saudi Arabia to face justice," he said.

A day earlier while visiting Australia, U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said the United States wants to talk with Al Qaeda suspects in Iran.

"We know that Iran, to her own admission, is holding a certain number of Al Qaeda," Armitage said.

"Some of them we believe to be quite high level. We'd like to get access to them and interrogate them to try to head off whatever plans they've already got in the works."

Khatami said Iran is ready to hand over Saudi Al Qaeda detainees to Saudi Arabia, which is investigating bombings May 12 in its capital Riyadh.

"If their nationality is Saudi, we have no problem handing them over. We have no problem cooperating with Saudi Arabia," Khatami said after a cabinet meeting.

On Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran would try Al Qaeda operatives in Iranian custody whose nationalities are not clear and if no country takes them.

Asefi also said Iran will also try those Al Qaeda figures who have committed crimes in Iran. He gave no further details.

Last week, Iran's government spokesperson Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said Iran won't hand over senior Al Qaeda captives to the United States because Iran has no extradition treaty with Washington.

Intelligence Minister Yunesi confirmed for the first time last month that Iran is holding "a large number of small and big-time elements of Al Qaeda." Iran has not identified any of the detainees, citing security reasons.

U.S. officials have said intelligence suggests other Al Qaeda figures in Iran include Saif al-Adl, a top Al Qaeda agent possibly connected to the May 12 bombings in Riyadh; Abu Mohammed al-Masri, wanted in connection with the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998 and Abu Musab Zarqawi.

Many Al Qaeda operatives are believed to have fled to Iran after the overthrow of the Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan in late 2001.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=968350060724

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 04:26

Quote:

Unusual number of Saudi tourists visit Iran this year

MENAFN - 26/08/2003

Arab News daily reported that an unusually large number of Saudi tourists visited Iran this year, indicating that there was a corresponding substantial reduction in the number of Saudi tourists going to the US and Europe, Arab News daily reported.

The daily added that around 30,000 Iranian visas were issued to Saudis this summer, which may indicate a new tourist trend in the aftermath of September 11.

The deputy chief of the Iranian mission was quoted as saying that Iran issued 15,000 visas to Saudi tourists in 20 days during the peak period last month.

The official added that the Iranian Embassy and the consulate in Jeddah had issued free visas to Saudi tourists this year, noting that there were no restrictions imposed on Saudis applying for Iranian visas.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=27210

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 04:37

Quote:

Report: Iran Extradites Qaeda Members to Saudi Arabia
Sat August 23, 2003 05:50 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has extradited a number of Saudi members of al Qaeda to Saudi Arabia, the official Iranian news agency IRNA, monitored in London by the BBC, reported on Saturday.
IRNA quoted Tehran's ambassador to Riyadh as saying the al Qaeda members had been arrested in Iran after the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan, but did not name them, or say how many had been extradited or when they had been handed over to Saudi Arabia.

The envoy, speaking to IRNA on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran, said Iran and Saudi Arabia, leading oil producers and both Muslim nations, had signed a security pact and "have shown a firm resolve to improve ties in all areas," the BBC said.

Last Sunday IRNA quoted Hassan Rohani, secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Iran had foiled a number of attacks al Qaeda had been planning to carry out on its soil.

"Their (al Qaeda's) plans for a wide range of terrorist acts inside Iran were neutralized by our intelligence organizations," IRNA quoted Rohani as saying, though he gave no details.

Although a staunch political enemy of Washington, Iran condemned the September 11 attacks on the United States which were blamed on al Qaeda and was fiercely opposed to the rule of al Qaeda's former sponsors, the Taliban, in neighboring Afghanistan.

Tehran has said previously that it has arrested a number of al Qaeda members, including some senior figures in Osama bin Laden's organization. But it has declined to name them and has refused to hand them over to U.S. officials for questioning.

The Islamic Republic has also acknowledged that its extensive eastern border with Afghanistan is hard to police and some fleeing al Qaeda members may have been able to slip into the country undetected.

Intelligence sources and media reports suggest Iran may be holding Saad bin Laden, a son of the al Qaeda leader, al Qaeda's security chief Egyptian Saif al Adel and its Kuwaiti-born spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, among others.

Washington has in the past accused Iran of sheltering al Qaeda and said members of bin Laden's network in Iran may have planned the May 12 bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which killed 35 people.

Fifteen of the 19 men who carried out the September 11 suicide hijackings in the United States were Saudi citizens, and Riyadh, under pressure from Washington, has launched a crackdown that has involved bloody clashes between security forces and militants.

Iran says that in the past year it has arrested and deported around 500 al Qaeda suspects who fled across its borders from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle....toryID=3326459

Paul Hanson · August 27, 2003, 05:24

Is the answer Iran?

Mr. President · August 27, 2003, 05:40

I also think the answer is Iran.

Oerdin · August 27, 2003, 05:50

Quote:

“Iranian lawmakers believe that the former Iranian ambassador to Argentina, Hadi Soleimanpur, has fallen victim to a plot (masterminded) by the triangle of evil (that is) Israel, the United States and Britain”, the English-language Tehran Times said Sunday.

So is this "triangle of evil" Irans response to being in the Axis of Evil?

Mr. President · August 27, 2003, 05:57

Somehow Axis of Evil sounds more . . . evil.

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 06:04

What about Iran?

MikeH · August 27, 2003, 10:12

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr. President
Somehow Axis of Evil sounds more . . . evil.

Of course, that was a great bit of propaghanda

Spiffor · August 27, 2003, 10:37

Quote:

The Immigration and Refugee Board identified them as Jahan Zaib Sawhney, Yousaf Rasheed, Aqeel Ahmed, Muhammad Asif Aziz, Kashif Siddique, Mohammed Asif, Muhammad Waliu Siddiqui

That sure is a lot of Siddiquis. I say attack the Siddiquis at once !

Q Classic · August 27, 2003, 10:42

Quote:

The Ghost in Your Machine
Computers may soon monitor your work, notice when fatigue sets in, and fix mistakes. Scary? No more than a good secretary, says researcher Chris Forsythe

The world of smart computers -- machines that would be familiar with your habits and know when you're stressed or fatigued -- could be only a few years away. The computers would note your mental logic for saving information and follow the same logic in saving files. They would accurately infer your intent, remember past experiences (for instance, that you tend to make errors in multiplication), and alert you to mistakes.

These so-called cognitive machines -- essentially, smart software that can be part of any computer environment -- are already here in prototype, having been developed over the past five years by a team of computer scientists and cognitive psychologists at the Energy Dept.'s Sandia National Laboratories. The software monitors everything you do and creates a mathematical model of your behavior, such as your patterns in saving information or doing your work. Think of it as an advanced cousin of today's software which, after you've typed in a few letters of someone's address in an e-mail, suggests the rest.

At their most benign, smart computers seem like executive secretaries for those of us who can't afford one -- offering tremendous advances in productivity. Yet some fear that the concept suggests an ominous encroachment out of a sci-fi movie. Cognitive psychologist Chris Forsythe, who leads the Sandia team, insists that the machines are designed to augment -- not replace -- human activity. "We don't want to take the human out of the loop," he says. The simplest versions of these cognitive machines could hit production in as little as one to two years.

Forsythe talked to BusinessWeek Online Reporter Olga Kharif on Aug. 19 about how cognitive machines will change our world. Edited excerpts of the interview follow.

Q: How would you characterize the current state of human-machine interaction?
A: The biggest problem is that if you're the user, for the most part the technology doesn't know anything about you. The onus is on the user to learn and understand how the technology works. What we would like to do is reverse that equation so that it becomes the responsibility of the computer to learn about the user.

The computer would have to learn what the user knows, what the user doesn't know, how the user performs everyday, common functions. It would also recognize when the user makes a mistake or doesn't understand something.

Q: Could you give me an example of a prototype of a system that you've already built?
A: One of the systems that we built last year has a function called discrepancy detection. We give the machine a cognitive model of an air-traffic controller. You have an operator watching events going on in the world around him, and the computer is sitting there "watching" all the same things the operator sees and is attempting to interpret, using the operator's cognitive model -- essentially, a mathematical model of the user's behavior -- what's going on.

Thanks to our software, when you stop the simulation and ask the computer and the operator, "What do you think is going on right now?" about 90% of the time you get the same answer from both. Such a computer could alert the operator to a problem the operator hasn't picked up on yet.

Q: What kinds of other applications do you expect to see?
A: One application is an intelligence agent, looking at data coming from many databases. Another application is where you'd have a robot that would record its experiences, so that at some point it could say, "Oh, I saw something like this before and this is what I did, and this is what happened."

Our software could also be part of the basic desktop environment -- we have that prototype close to completion. The program monitors your e-mail traffic, who you interact with, the nature of these interactions. So you could later ask the system, "Do I know this person?" And it would remind you that you worked on a project together a year ago.

http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...4912_tc121.htm

Q Classic · August 27, 2003, 10:42

this is fun, this unrelated stories bidness.

The Mad Monk · August 27, 2003, 23:09

Quote:

US ends military operations in Saudi Arabia

28.08.2003 2.23 pm

WASHINGTON - The United States has ended more than a decade of military operations in Saudi Arabia, shutting down the last remaining Air Force unit at Prince Sultan Air Base amid resentment in the kingdom over the American military presence, officials said on Wednesday.

US defence officials said a skeleton crew of American personnel would stay to make final preparations to depart the remote desert facility, while dozens of US military advisers remained in Saudi Arabia to assist the kingdom's military in training.

Air Force Maj Gen Robert Elder presided over a de-activation ceremony for the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing on Tuesday at Prince Sultan Air Base, transferring back to Saudi officials control over an enclave within the huge facility that had been used by the US military.

In a statement released by the Air Force, Elder said the move "ends more than a decade of military operations in this strategic Middle East nation. The end of the Iraq war and Saddam Hussein's government mean the American military mission here is over."

US warplanes had flown missions from the base, which boasts an immense 4572-metre runway, to monitor a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq. The United States also had maintained a high-tech air operations centre, which controlled air strikes during the Iraq war. Its functions have been moved to Qatar.

The Air Force said the US and Saudi militaries will continue a training relationship and conduct joint exercises.

The presence of US troops had generated resentment within Saudi Arabia and in the Arab world because of their proximity to Islam's holiest sites. It was a major grievance cited by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz announced on April 29 that the United States would end military operations in the oil-rich kingdom and remove virtually all its forces. Saudi Arabia denied media reports that it demanded that the United States withdraw.

At the height of the Iraq war, US military personnel at Prince Sultan Air Base numbered more than 5000, with about 200 warplanes flying missions from the facility, according to the Air Force.

Amid serious strains in US-Saudi relations, the Saudi ambassador to Washington met former President George Bush on Wednesday and will meet Vice President **** Cheney on Thursday, US officials said.

The meetings coincide with efforts by Saudi Arabia, long a close US ally and major oil supplier, to halt a slide in relations amid American concerns about links between some Saudis and attacks on the United States.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan had lunch with Bush -- father and close confidant of the current president -- in Kennebunkport, Maine, where the family has long had a vacation home.

Bush spokeswoman Jean Becker confirmed the meeting but said it was private, declining to provide further details. The former president has had a long relationship with Bandar, the veteran envoy in Washington, and worked closely with Saudi Arabia when he presided over the US-led 1991 Gulf War.

Cheney's spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise said Bandar would meet the vice president on Thursday in Wyoming. She gave no further details.

Relations between the United States and the desert kingdom have been battered since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon that killed 3000 people.

Most of the hijackers of the planes that were used in the attacks were Saudi born as was Osama bin Laden, head of the al Qaeda Islamic militant group that was blamed for that and other anti-US operations.

Recently, lawmakers from both US political parties have voiced concerns the Bush administration may be seeking to shield the United States' No 1 crude oil supplier from sanctions, despite accusations the Saudi Arabian government has turned a blind eye to Saudi wealth underwriting al Qaeda and other militant organisations around the world.

The US Treasury has refused to give the US Congress details about Saudi organisations and individuals that have been investigated as possible terrorism financiers.

Last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in a television interview some of the people attacking US forces now occupying Iraq were slipping across the border from Saudi Arabia.

US soldiers have faced daily guerrilla ambushes since the end of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein in April.

US officials have long suspected some militants have come through Iran and Syria and has warned both against interference in Iraq but have not previously singled out Saudi Arabia. However, Riyadh's co-operation on fighting terrorism after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States has left some US officials disappointed.

A State Department official said on Wednesday that Armitage's comment about Saudi Arabia was "overplayed" and that the deputy secretary "wasn't trying to lump Saudi Arabia in the same category as Iran."

In an effort to try and assuage some of the damage done to the relationship, the United States and Saudi Arabia this week launched a joint task force in Riyadh to tackle the funding of terrorism.

The US military presence in Saudi Arabia began during the 1991 Gulf War in which American-led forces expelled Iraqi troops from neighbouring Kuwait, the Air Force said.

Air Force Col James Moschgat, commander of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing, noted the "difficult circumstances" under which Prince Sultan Air Base became the centre of the American military presence in Saudi Arabia. A truck bomb in June 1996 ripped through apartment buildings that housed US troops near the Saudi city of Dhahran, killing killed 19 airmen.

The Pentagon then relocated US air assets and personnel from Dhahran and Riyadh to remote Prince Sultan Air Base, about 80km south of the Saudi capital.

Lt Gary Arasin, a spokesman at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, said fewer than 200 US troops were present during the ceremony at the facility, primarily security personnel and civil engineers.

The Pentagon already had removed most troops from the base, and all the American aircraft departed in June.

- REUTERS

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnews...bsection=world

Oerdin · August 27, 2003, 23:28

The only connection I can make between all of these articles is that Mad Monk is bored.

MrFun · August 27, 2003, 23:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Oerdin
The only connection I can make between all of these articles is that Mad Monk is bored.

You get a cookie.

The Mad Monk · August 28, 2003, 00:12

Back during the "major conflict" portion of the Iraq war, we had a series of topped threads where people could put linked stories, without commentary. The idea was that if anyone cared enough about a given story, they could start their own thread on it.

I suggested that it might be nice to have such a thread available for "normal" times, where people could put news articles that had piqued their interest, but not enough to "waste a thread"; others could start their own threads on it, if they found it interesting enough. Nobody took me up on my suggestion.

Perhaps I've decided to try it out on my own.

Maybe I'm just bored.

MrFun · August 28, 2003, 00:12

Quote:

Originally posted by The Mad Monk

Maybe I'm just bored.

The Mad Monk · September 5, 2003, 02:35

Quote:

Kingdom Denies US Pressure
Agence France Presse

RIYADH, 5 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia denied yesterday it was under US pressure to withdraw fighters deployed in a base near the southern Israeli city of Eilat. “Washington did not put pressure on us, and we would not tolerate pressure from anyone when it comes to sovereignty matters,” Assistant Defense Minister Prince Khaled ibn Sultan told AFP.

Israeli military radio said on Wednesday that Israel had asked the United States to put pressure on Saudi Arabia to withdraw F-16 fighters deployed in a base near Eilat.

“We do not have F-16s, but rather F-15s, stationed in Tabuk, and we will keep them there because they are deployed inside our territory,” Prince Khaled said.

http://www4.arabnews.com/?page=1&sec...d=5&m=9&y=2003

st_swithin · September 5, 2003, 02:39

Geez, what are the chances of THAT happening? It's gotta be like a zillion to none.