Tag: Terrorism

Renditions exposed

The Council of Europe today came out with a bashing report on the US “ghost flights” in Europe, identifying a “spider’s web” of landing points around the world airports, used by the CIA for its “extraordinary rendition” program, whereby Islamist suspects are moved around the world to secret detention and interrogation centers. The report also exposed 14 European countries, which are either “involved in or complicit” in the suspects’ illegal transfer and detention.

Washington and several European capitals, stand accused, have rejected the report, saying it’s solely based on “allegations.” Continue reading Renditions exposed

A letter from a former Islamist detainee

I received today from my friend Alia Mossallam an English translation of a letter sent to Magdi Mahanna–the prominent columnist at Al-Masri Al-Youm, my favorite daily liberal tabloid–from a former Islamist detainee who spent 13 years in prison without trial. It sheds some light on the 1990s Egyptian “war on terror,” which the regime brags (or at least used to brag before the Sinai bombings) it was a “successful model for fighting terror.” Please read the letter….. Continue reading A letter from a former Islamist detainee

At least 1,000 Al-Qaeda suspects nabbed in Pakistan, new study reveals

A recently published study by a Pakistani think-tank revealed there were at least 1,000 Al-Qaeda suspects picked up in Pakistan over the past four years.

The study, conducted by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, based on monitoring media reports, disputed the official figure, of 660 detainees, given previously by the Pakistani government:

“Pakistani security agencies arrested more than 1,000 al-Qaeda suspects between January 2002 and May 2006. Of them, 70 came from Algeria, 86 from Saudi Arabia, 20 from Morocco, 22 from the United Arab Emirates, 11 from Libya, 7 from Kuwait, 20 from Egypt, 28 from Indonesia, 18 from Malaysia, and 36 from the West Asian countries. They also included 18 citizens of Western countries: 5 from the United States, 2 from Australia, and 11 from the United Kingdom. They also included an unknown number of French and German citizens.�

The study excluded the Afghani and Pakistani suspects nabbed by the security forces.

There were reports since the start of the manhunt for al-Qaeda suspects that the Pakistani intelligence services were exaggerating the importance of many of the detained Arab detainees, to appease the US and gain more financial and political support for General Pervez Musharraf’s regime. There were occasions too when the Pakistanis handed the Americans ordinary Arabs, not involved in politics, as “high value al-Qaeda targets.�

Pakistan was also the destination for several rendition flights, in and out, that ferried Islamist terror suspects to interrogation centers in the Middle East and other locations.

A Bedouin insurgency in the Sinai?

The Jamestown Foundation thinks the last two years’ attacks in Sinai suggest the beginning of a Bedouin insurgency, particularly considering the lack of support for the government’s thesis that an Al Qaeda-inspired group carried out the attacks. It is true that the official version events — that a previously unknown group called Tawhid wa Jihad (Oneness of God and Holy War) carried out the bombings — is looking increasingly shaky since there has been a string of gunfights in the Sinai mountains and we are continually being presented with new names of people who’ve been arrested, or more often, killed.

A closer look at the situation in Sinai may point to another ominous possibility behind the surge in radicalism. Relations between Cairo and the resident Bedouin tribes of the Sinai Peninsula have historically been marked by tension for many reasons. There is evidence, however, that the friction between the state and certain tribes is growing. This growing friction, coupled with the spread of extremist ideology, is a cause for alarm because it suggests that Egypt is in the early throes of an insurgency driven by deep-seated grievances and shaped by a mixture of Arab tribalism and radical Islamism unique to Sinai. Cairo has yet to provide credible evidence supporting its theory of possible al-Qaeda involvement in any of the Sinai attacks. This is another clue suggesting the indigenous character of the extremist activity.

In varying degrees, Sinai Bedouins represent an oppressed and impoverished segment of Egyptian society. Led by Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi, the el-Mallahi tribe is among the poorest in the region. One source of popular resentment toward the state is that much of the severely disadvantaged region has benefited little from the local tourist industry. This is especially true for the tribes that reside in northern Sinai near al-Arish, including the el-Mallahi. Local tribes also resent Cairo’s political interference in local affairs. In contrast, southern tribes have benefited somewhat from robust investments in the tourist sector and social welfare projects. This translates into a more positive attitude toward the state (al-Ahram, November 2, 2005).

There has been a lot of hand-wringing in the Egyptian press lately over the way the state has failed to develop the Sinai and include Bedouins in the country’s development. I took these notes in early May from the editorial pages in Al Ahram:

“We have abandoned Sinai to the drug traffickers and the terrorists,” lamented Abdel Mo’ti Mohammed in a column that called for making the development of Sinai a top priority. “We should help three million Egyptians from across the nation to settle in Sinai and providen them with all the facilities to reclaim land and live a dignified life and so that they can form a community that can thwart attempts to disturb regional stability. We should also organize a conference to discuss the problems of Bedouins and offer the facilities they need to develop a sense of being part of Egypt.”

Salama Ahmed Salama, arguably Egypt’s best columnist, wrote that “to say the attacks were the work of extremists would be narrow-minded. The staunchest allies of terrorists are lack of genuine development in the Sinai communities and the neglect of the interests of local tribes, which are considered a burden on security and social welfare. Religious extremism is not the only motive for acts of terrorism. Social and political factors have their part in shaping the terrorist mentality. We will not win the war on terror until government oppression stops.”

There’s been a lot of similar stuff elsewhere, blaming the government for the Bedouins’ isolation. But seeing this being admitted in Al Ahram is different. Abdel Mo’ti Mohammed generally toes the government line. His suggestion of a mass colonization of Sinai would probably provoke, rather than defuse, any “Bedouin insurgency.” More to the point is Salama’s explanation that, more than other Egyptians, the Bedouins have been left behind by a government that has failed in developing the country. It’s not only that the Bedouins are marginalized economically, they have also little political representation in Cairo and tend to be ruled by governors from “mainland Egypt” who have little affinity for Bedouin culture. Does anyone remember how a few years ago the governor of South Sinai, I think, wanted to ban smoking in public places?

Anyway, in the idea of a Bedouin insurgency — which I’m still not sold on at all — there’s obviously interesting parallels here not only with Afghanistan and Pakistan’s frontier provinces, but in a way also with the current Sunni insurgency in Iraq. Some of these tribal confederations (such as the Awlad Ali) in Northern Sinai extend all the way out to Iraq and elsewhere in the Mashreq. They could be getting some ideas, at least be radicalized with a form of Bedouin militancy and Jihadi Islamism. If so, it’s probably early enough to nip it in the bud, even if it has any chance to spread, which I doubt.

What is certain is that fi mushkila fil Sina (there’s a problem in the Sinai), and it doesn’t look like it’s being fixed in other means than the usual security ones.

(Thanks to Brian Ulrich for the link.)

Update: Seneferu thinks the whole Bedouin insurgency scenario is stupid. I tend to agree. But the presence of an Al Qaeda affiliate in Sinai, and it receiving some degree of protection from local tribes, could very well be linked to the dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs there. Terrorism a la Al Qaeda is not just fueled by ideas, but also by circumstances.

Islamist imagery

From a guide to interpreting Jihadi imagery:

Hell B

The motif of jahanam, which means “hell” in Arabic, is often used in jihadi propaganda to discredit enemies and to emphasize the notions of good (Islam) and evil (enemies of Islam). The concept of Hell in Islam is similar to that in Christianity and Judaism. It is a place of eternal suffering and fire for the wicked, the tyrannical, and the unjust.

In one of the examples below, the concept of hell is used to boast about the deaths of what are represented as two American soldiers. The text of the image reads the same in both Arabic and English, literally: “They went to Hell.” The notion of hell and the gruesome pictures serves as propaganda against the Coalition Forces, and they are an attempt to boast of jihadi victories. It also serves to bolster the resolve and reinforce the religious righteousness of the anti-occupational jihadi insurgency. By labeling dead Coalition soldiers as people who are destined for Hell, the jihadi cause (i.e. those who brought about the death of these soldiers) is presented as the righteous side of the conflict.

From the Islamic Imagery Project — which includes sections on nature, geography, people, and “warfare and the afterlife.” There are some odd examples in there, and they shouldn’t say “Islamic” when they mean “Islamist,” but it’s an interesting project.

Rethinking Taba

The Washington Times has an in-depth article looking at how the Israeli intelligence community has re-assessed its attitude towards Al Qaeda’s influence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in light of the Taba bombings. Talking to many Israeli intelligence experts in academia and government, as well as Palestinian and Saudi analysts, it draws a picture of Al Qaeda extending its network’s activities beyond its “core” areas — the Saudi regime and the US — to the pro-US Arab regimes like Egypt. In the long term, the aim is to also have Israel as one area of activity, which would add an entirely new dimension to the conflict as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have thus far stayed away from Al Qaeda.

The consensus in Israel’s intelligence establishment is that al Qaeda is intensifying its campaign against Arab states that have close ties to the United States. Al Qaeda’s long-term goal, according to the intelligence establishment, is to rid the Middle East of perceived Western implants, including the Jewish state.

Bin Laden confirmed that view 21 months ago.

Accusing the moderate Arab regimes of backing the Bush administration in the impending U.S. invasion of Iraq, he described them as “Jahiliya” heathens — the Arabic term for paganism practiced on the Arabian peninsula before the advent of Islam.

In March 2003, Al Jazeera television and some Arabic Web sites carried bin Laden’s “will,” in which he said that “getting rid of the Arab regimes is an Islamic commandment because they are heretical and cooperate with America.”

Until Taba, there has been speculation in Egypt as to why it had been spared from the terrorist attacks that in the past three years have hit Casablanca, Riyadh, Istanbul, Bali, Madrid and other places. Some analysts even ventured as far as saying Al Qaeda had explicitly excluded Egypt from their hit-list, although they had little evidence of this. And while the Egyptian government’s version of events was to downplay the importance of the group that carried the bombings — they basically argued that it consisted of local thugs who had just recently gone fundamentalist — the ongoing campaign of arrests in Sinai suggests that they are looking for something much more sophisticated than this.

Another interesting thing from the story was a little backgrounder on Abdullah Azzam, the Palestinian Islamist activist after which one of the groups that claimed the attack. Azzam is a veteran of Al Azhar, Saudi universities and the Afghan civil war, and apparently a leading proponent of the idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs to be addressed by dismantling the pro-US Arab regimes.

Azzam’s slogan, “The Way to Liberate Jerusalem Passes Through Cairo,” implies that the downfall of Egypt’s pro-U.S. regime will lead to Israel’s elimination from the Middle East.

That slogan is something that over the past year I’ve heard over and over in demonstrations in support of the intifada or against the Iraq war. The idea it expressed has been endorsed by not only Islamists but also leftists who are enraged by the Mubarak regime’s support of the bogus peace process of the 1990s and the current roadmap effort. I doubt that many of the non-Islamists who chant it are even aware of its origins, but the elegant idea that freedom must come to Cairo (and Riyadh, and Amman, and Damascus and elsewhere) first has an ecumenical potential — even if their interpretation is not, as above, “Israel’s elimination from the Middle East” but rather a stronger, more united Arab stance in negotiations with Israel.

One of the main sources for the Washington Times article was Reuven Paz, whose ideas on the meaning of the Taba bombing are explored in this article reprinted on Internet Haganah.

Syria helping foreign fighters in Iraq?

Yesterday, Bush threatened Syria and Iran that if they continue to interfere in Iraqi internal affairs in the lead-up to Allawi’s “election” on 30 January, there would be unspecified trouble against unspecified people.
Confusing? Yeah…..

The BBC filed this report this morning.

Two key parts:
1) Bush stated at the joint press conference with Berlusconi, “We will continue to make it clear, to both Syria and Iran that, as will other nations in our coalition… that meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq is not in their interests.” – This is a guised threat against Syria.

2) Directly from the report, “As for Syria, the highest levels of government did not appear to have sanctioned such activity but there was a ‘significant amount’ of both financial support and movement across the border of foreign fighters, he [Bush] said.” – Double-speak: Although we threaten Syria, its leaders may not be involved.

What does this mean?
__________________________________________
Apparently they are very tenuously insinuating that Syria and Iran had something to do with the bomb in Karabala that killed 7 and wounded 30.

Yet if we go back a few weeks to the Fallujah report, there is no evidence that there was a massive influx of foreign fighters. Juan Cole also has several comments on Informed Comment in November documenting the lack of foreign fighters.

Are we to believe there are no foreign fighters in Fallujah because they are in Karbala?

And if we buy this logic leap, do we assume it is Iran and Syria and not Saudi or some place else from which these imagined army of foreign fighters come from?

Pentagon, Republicans kill 9/11 commission bill

When you’ve been living in a military dictatorship for several years, this kind of thing sends a shiver of recognition:

House Republican leaders blocked and appeared to kill a bill Saturday that would have enacted the major recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, refusing to allow a vote on the legislation despite last-minute pleas from both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to Republican lawmakers for a compromise before Congress adjourned for the year.

The decision to block a vote on the landmark bill, which would have created the job of a cabinet-level national intelligence director to oversee the C.I.A. and the government’s other spy agencies, came after what lawmakers from both parties described as a near-rebellion by a core of highly conservative House Republicans aligned with the Pentagon who were emboldened to stand up to their leadership and to the White House.

The bill would have forced the Pentagon, which controls an estimated 80 percent of the government’s $40 billion intelligence budget, to cede much of its authority on intelligence issues to a national intelligence director.

“What you are seeing is the forces in favor of the status quo protecting their turf, whether it is Congress or in the bureaucracy,” said Senator Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who was the chief Senate author of the failed compromise bill, in what amounted to a slap at her Republican counterparts in the House.

The chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, Thomas H. Kean, a Republican and the former governor of New Jersey, said that the lawmakers who blocked the vote should be held accountable by the public, and he blamed senior Pentagon officials as well.

“I think there’s no question that there are people in the Pentagon who want the status quo, and they fought very hard with their allies in Congress for the status quo,” Mr. Kean said.