California Terror Informant Faces Deportation
July 1, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
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He’s a Pakistani immigrant who helped the United States in the war on terror, but now the U.S. government wants to deport him. His lawyers are working furiously to try to allow him to stay in his adopted country.
The man, who wants to remain unidentified, said he put himself in harm’s way by working as an undercover informant in California for ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, searching out terrorist connections.
He said ICE agents told him if he worked for ICE, he could stay here indefinitely or even get a green card.
The former informant is originally from Karachi, Pakistan and has lived in the US for over 20 years, first as a student and then as a white-collar professional. But now he faces deportation back to Pakistan.
“I thought I had a chance to live here without being deported or you know that’s what they told me, (ICE agents) said if I work with them as an informant I will be able to stay in this country indefinitely,” he said.
ICE agents approached him in 2004 after he was charged with overstaying his legal visa and suggested there was another way to stay in the United States.
“They told me if I helped them they would get me a green card, but later on they changed their statement and they said I can stay in the United States indefinitely, you know,” the informant said in describing those events.
In exchange, the agents wanted him to work as a confidential informant, to help crack the case of a Fresno paralegal named Akram Sabar Chaudhry, who the agents said was filing false asylum claims for immigrants.
Paksitan – Terror Attack On Norwegian and Swedish Embassies Thwarted
June 28, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
A man with two tons of explosives in his possession has been arrested in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. According to reports the man had planned to blow up the Norwegian and Swedish embassies in the city.
In addition, the Hungarian, Czech and South African embassies were also among the targets for the man’s terrorist attacks, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reports.
The newspaper quotes a central source as saying that the Swedish military presence in Afghanistan was the reason for the planned attack.
Also Norway is participating in the ISAF forces in Afghanistan. The Norwegian Foreign Office has declined to comment on the reports, but security at the Norwegian embassy has been stepped up.
One year ago the Danish embassy in Islamabad was attacked, and six people were killed.
Hat Tip – Infidels Are Cool
Pakistan Foils Major Terror Attacks
June 24, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Pakistani police today claimed to have foiled terror attacks in major cities across the country, including on parliament here, with the arrest of 25 “significant terrorists”, including at least two would-be suicide bombers.
Interior minister Mr Rehman Malik said one of the two would-be suicide bombers had plans to target the parliament house. The other bomber had plans to strike at the office of an intelligence agency, he said.
Police said the arrested suspects were planning attacks in major cities across the country. Inspector general of police Syed Kaleem Imam described the arrested persons as “significant terrorists”. Six of them were “high value targets” wanted by authorities for killing law enforcement personnel in Swat and carrying out bomb attacks, he said. The arrests had helped foil attacks and subversive activities in Karachi and Lahore.
Some of the terrorists hailed from Swat and South Waziristan tribal agency while some had links to the radical Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Mr Imam said.
The terrorists, who were arrested with the help of intelligence agencies, planned to target law enforcement agencies, vital installations and foreign dignitaries. Suicide jackets and explosives had been found in their possession, Mr Imam said.
U.S. Drone Strike Said to Kill 60 in Pakistan
June 23, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
An airstrike believed to have been carried out by a United States drone killed at least 60 people at a funeral for a Taliban fighter in South Waziristan on Tuesday, residents of the area and local news reports said.
Family members mourned Mr. Zainuddin, a tribal leader, on Tuesday in Abbotabad.
Details of the attack, which occurred in Makeen, remained unclear, but the reported death toll was exceptionally high. If the reports are indeed accurate and if the attack was carried out by a drone, the strike could be the deadliest since the United States began using the aircraft to fire remotely guided missiles at members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The United States carried out 22 previous drone strikes this year, as the Obama administration has intensified a policy inherited from the Bush administration.
Taliban Use Stolen U.S. Gear Against U.S.
June 23, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Some Taliban fighters have been able to ward off attacks by U.S. aircraft by wearing special infrared patches on their shirts that signal that they are friends rather than foes.
The patches, which can also help suicide bombers get close to U.S. targets, are supposed to be the property of the U.S. government alone, but can be easily purchased over the Internet for about $10 each. Also available online: night-vision goggles and military-grade communications systems like the ones used by the terrorists who attacked the Indian city of Mumbai last year.
While stealing uniforms is as old as warfare itself, the Internet has made purchases of military equipment much easier and increased the risk to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some of the patches have been stolen during raids on U.S. resupply convoys in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But they can also be purchased in the United States and sent overseas with little detection.
In a recent investigation, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) bought patches using fake names and a front company with only a valid credit card. The patches reveal an American flag when looked at with an infrared light and were designed to avoid friendly fire during nighttime battles.
Jonathan Meyer, assistant director of forensic audits and special investigations for the GAO, told The Washington Times, “Based on our conversations with the Department of Defense, terrorists have used U.S. uniforms and the infrared patches to get close to U.S. and allied forces on the battlefield and at bases. This is more of a potential suicide-bomber risk.”
How Safe Is Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal
June 23, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
The safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is a cause for international concern. Even as the Zardari regime is waging a war against Taliban in the Swat valley with support of the US, Taliban has made known its resolve to seize control of the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan and use it to fight the US. The US won’t allow Pakistan’s nuclear arms to pass into the hands of Taliban.
To checkmate that possibility, US has enough safeguards in place to take over Pak’s nuclear weapons in case Islamist fighters came close to doing so. US President Barack Obama recently expressed the confidence that Pakistani government has safeguarded its nuclear arsenal. However, no one has been able to ascertain the validity of Pakistan’s assurances about their nuclear weapons security.
Pakistans Nuclear Nightmare
Al-Qaida says it will use Pakistan’s nuclear weapons against the U.S. if it ever gets the chance. We’re not surprised. Nor would we be surprised if it eventually got the opportunity.
‘God willing, the (Pakistani) nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans, and the mujahedeen would take them and use them against the Americans.” So says Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, al-Qaida’s top commander in Afghanistan, where the terror group has found a friend and ally in the Taliban.
If you think 9/11 was bad, just wait until al-Qaida gets a nuke, which is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Based both in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s untamed northwest frontier, al-Qaida in April launched a major offensive into Pakistan’s Swat Valley, engaging in fierce fighting with Pakistani army forces.
Swat is just 60 miles from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. If al-Qaida beats the Pakistan army in Swat, what will keep it from marching on Islamabad and gaining control of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal — said to number as many as 55 warheads? If you said Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, guess again. It’s riddled with fundamentalist al-Qaida sympathizers.
Al Qaeda Says They Would Use Pakistani Nuclear Weapons
If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired on Sunday.
Pakistan has been battling al Qaeda’s Taliban allies in the Swat Valley since April after their thrust into a district 100 km 60 miles northwest of the capital raised fears the nuclear-armed country could slowly slip into militant hands.
“God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans,” Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of al Qaeda’s in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.
Abu al-Yazid was responding to a question about U.S. safeguards to seize control over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in case Islamist fighters came close to doing so.
“We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated in Swat … and that would be its end everywhere, God willing.”
Pakistans Next Fight – Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud
June 17, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
No one has contributed to Pakistan’s slide into chaos over recent years more than Baitullah Mehsud. From his base in the wilds of South Waziristan, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban has overseen the killing of more than 1,200 civilians and several hundred soldiers through brutal means, including suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. He has been accused of masterminding the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in late December 2007.
In late March, Washington announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, describing Mehsud as a “key al-Qaeda facilitator.” And over the past week alone, he claimed responsibility for five separate terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a luxury hotel in Peshawar and the killing of a vocal anti-Taliban cleric in Lahore. (See pictures of the hotel blast in Peshawar.)
Now Pakistan is taking the fight to Mehsud’s mountainous stronghold, ordering an expansion of its current offensive against Taliban fighters in the Swat valley.
CIA Chief Says bin Laden in Pakistan
June 11, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
CIA Director Leon Panetta said on Thursday the U.S. intelligence agency believes al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan and hopes joint operations with Pakistani forces will find him.
Asked whether he was sure that bin Laden was in Pakistan, Panetta told reporters: “The last information we had, that’s still the case.”
Bin Laden, who has eluded a U.S. manhunt since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has issued audio and videotapes over the years demonstrating that he is still alive.
Finding bin Laden is “one of our major priorities,” Panetta said. “One of our hopes is that the Pakistanis move in militarily, combined with our operations, we may be able to have a better chance” to find the al Qaeda leader, he said.
Panetta said al Qaeda “remains the most serious security threat” to the United States and its leaders, particularly in Pakistan, continue to plot against America.
There are “a number of people” on the ground in Pakistan providing intelligence on al Qaeda targets to the United States, he said.
Blast at Luxury Pakistan Hotel Kills Several
June 9, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Homicide attackers in a truck launched an assault Tuesday on a luxury hotel commonly used by foreigners in Peshawar, firing guns as they stormed past guards and then setting off a huge blast that killed at least five people and wounded 65 more, Pakistani officials said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the largest city in Pakistan’s restive northwest, but it fit the pattern of recent Taliban attacks the militants said were in retaliation for a military campaign against militants in the Swat Valley region.
Local television networks showed part of the Pearl Continental Hotel had been demolished in the blast, reduced to concrete rubble and twisted steel. The scene was pandemonium, with armed police rushing around and Pakistani men standing by looking stunned. One man held a bloodied rag to his head.
Nukes Can Fall Into Talibans Hands
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has said there is a possibility that its nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of the Taliban if democracy “fails” in his country and the world doesn’t help.
“If democracy in this country fails, if the world doesn’t help democracy — then any eventuality is a possibility,” he said in an interview to German newspaper Der Spiegel when asked whether he, like his late wife Benazir Bhutto, feared that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist extremists.
“But as long as democracy is there, there is no question of that situation arising. All important installations and weaponry are always under extra security,” Zardari said.
“Nuclear weapons are not Kalashnikovs – the technology is complicated, so it is not as if one little Taliban could come down and press a button,” he said.
“I want to assure the world that the nuclear capability of Pakistan is in safe hands,” he said, referring to growing concerns in the West over safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
Bin Laden Warns Americans To Be Prepared For Consequences
June 3, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned Americans “to be prepared to receive the consequences of the Obama and Bush administrations.” In a new recorded audiotape aired by Arabic Al Jazeera TV Wednesday, June 3 – as Saudi king Abdullah greeted US president Barack Obama on his arrival in Riyadh – bin Laden said Obama had planted the seeds for “revenge and hatred” toward the United States in the Muslim world.
The warning was issued the day before the US president was to deliver a speech to Muslims from Cairo.
Taliban Kidnap Hundreds Of Cadets in Waziristan
June 1, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
The Taliban in North Waziristan carried out a brazen daylight operation that resulted in the kidnapping of hundreds of military cadets and their teachers as they traveled from a college in North Waziristan.
A large Taliban force armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, and assault rifles halted the convoy of 29 minibuses traveling from the Ramzak Cadet College to the settled district of Bannu. The cadets were traveling under the protection of Pakistani security forces, however there are no reports of fighting.
Between 300 to 400 cadets, teachers, and college staffers were kidnapped and taken to an undisclosed location. One bus driver and more than 40 students are reported to have escaped the Taliban hijacking.
“[A] Driver of one of the vehicles managed to escape and students reported to us that their colleagues have been kidnapped by Taliban,” a police official in Bakka Khel told Reuters. The convoy is said to have been ambushed near Bakka Khel.
The cadets and staff left the college after being threatened by the Taliban, according to reports.
via Taliban kidnap hundreds of cadets in Waziristan – The Long War Journal.
