Somali Man Found Dead with Cyanide

The Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota is back in the news again. A year ago, on 24 August 2007, the St. Paul police were shocked as a security tape documented that ten witnesses ignored a woman's cries for help while she was beaten and sexually assaulted for nearly 90 minutes by Somali immigrant Rage (note a joke, that is his real name) Ibrahimman. The Advocacy Center defended the actions of the alleged perpetrator. The attack lasted over an hour while the witnesses did nothing. The surveillance video clearly showed men and women looking out their apartment doors or starting to walk down the hallway before retreating as the woman was assaulted according to police spokesman Tom Walsh.

Nonetheless, Omar Jamal, the executive director of the Somali Center defended Ibrahim. Ibrahim was charged with several counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct; in fact, he was sentenced in the rape on 19 July 2008 and will spend the next 12 years in prison.

Now the Somali group is at it again and they are protesting that no one should conclude that deadly Denver cyanide is linked to terrorism. Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, of Ottawa was found dead Monday, and police say a powder found in his room was cyanide. The cause of death hasn't been established but so far the police do not suspect foul play and the FBI says there's no apparent connection to terrorism. Still, no one has established why Dirie had cyanide either.

Libya In From the Cold: At What Cost?

Libya and the U.S. signed a compensation deal for American victims of Libyan attacks and U.S. reprisals, paving the way for full normalisation of ties between the two countries. The deal will see compensation paid for U.S. victims of Libyan attacks in the 1980s. In particular, the U.S. wants Libya to fully compensate families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, and a Berlin disco bombing that killed two Americans. In addition, under this agreement each country's citizens can receive fair compensation for past incidents since the U.S. bombed Libya in retaliation for terrorist attacks. The U.S. retaliated against Libya with several U.S. airstrikes on Tripoli and Benghazi on April 16, 1986, in which 41 people were killed, including an adopted daughter of Kadhafi. Since 2006 the U.S. normalised relations between the two countries by dropping Libya from a State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism and raising diplomatic relations to the level of ambassadors. Both houses of Congress passed a bill that grants Libya immunity from lawsuits once compensation has been paid through the fund.

My question here is what do the victims of Libyan terrorism have to say on the issue? I'm not finding any public comment by them. I wonder if they are being fully represented and if they are satisfied with compensation for their loved ones now that Congress has accepted the deal.

In addition, is there a slippery slope at work here? Will AQAM (al-Qaeda and Allied Movements) someday seek relief in American courts for compensation?

The compensation payments must be weighed against the relative benefit of having Libya return to the civilized community of nations as Libya sheds its past as a rogue state.

Sobering Assessment of Counter-Terrorism

On August 12, 2008, U.S. national intelligence officer (NIO) for transnational threats Ted Gistaro addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Mr. Gistaro was appointed NIO in November 2006 after nearly two decades of service with the Central Intelligence Agency. He provided a sobering assessment of counter-terrorism efforts. The U.S. has made progress in security measures which have helped disrupt known plots against us since 9/11. On the other hand, al-Qaeda is the most serious terrorist threat to the United States, and we remain in the heightened threat environment noted in the July 2007 National Intelligence Estimate.

Cyberwarfare is Here to Stay: Georgia

The defacement of Georgia President’s official web site. Graphic source: ZDNet

In the wake of the recent cyberwar, the pattern of attack by hacktivists or a hacker militia, was identified in the blogosphere:

distribute a static list of targets, eliminate centralized coordination of the attack; engaging the average internet users, empower them with DoS [Denial of Service] tools; distribute lists of remotely SQL injectable Georgian sites; abuse public lists of email addresses of Georgian politicians for spamming and targeted attacks; and, destroy the adversary’s ability to communicate using the usual channels.

Dancho Danchev, the blogger noted above, is an independent security consultant and cyber threats analyst. What are we to make of understanding cyberwarfare? The attacks will be de-centralized, and, although controlled, will not have a central command and control center. Cyberwarfare will more quickly escalate, as opposed to other forms of attack, in that the average non-activist can be drawn into the mix quickly. This escalated attack is similar to the effect of insurgents who hide amongst a civilian population, and who, to varying degrees, are concealing or cooperating with the insurgents. The publicly available Georgian government sites were attacked since the information is easily accessed. The ordinary media outlets of government services, which naturally are employed to calm the population and to broadcast messages of reassurance and reliable information, are cut off. In the case of the government of Georgia, Blogger was employed and alternate non-Georgian sites had to be found to broadcast government information.

Cyberwarfare is an added dimension of 21st Century war and is here to stay. The fact that Georgian government sites were so easily dismantled is a warning for other countries to be preparing now.

How American is Obama?

The recent revelation, and reservations expressed in a policy memo by Hillary Clinton's one-time chief strategist Mark Penn, challenging Barack Obama's "American roots," are instructive. In a March 2007 memo Penn noted: "all of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared toward showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light. Save it for 2050," according to Atlantic magazine writer Joshua Green who broke the story. Penn continued: "It also exposes a very strong weakness for him -- his roots to basic American values and culture are at best limited. I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values."

As expressed on this blog, I do wonder about an Indonesian madrassa education and being raised in an areligious Muslim household. Americans advocate diversity, which is the positive side of Obama, but at what cost? Are American values, while we are engaged in two horrific conflicts in very different parts of the world, to be completely set aside?

Now I'm wondering how many Clinton supporters are pondering the same thing.

Let's Get Accustomed to Cyber War

As documented by The Shadowserver Foundation, while Russian troops advanced into Georgia they were preceded by attacks on Georgian government sites. I think the point is that 21st Century warfare will routinely include the Cypersphere.

Russia Imitates the Cold War

Graphic source: BBC

As Russian troops invade Georgia the French and the Germans, who import a great deal of their energy supplies from Russia, look the other way. Only the U.S., in the person of George Bush, has publicly condemned the Russian parallel to their 21st Century re-enactment of 20th Century imperialism. Bush used some of the strongest language against Russia since the end of the Cold War stating that this is a: "dramatic and brutal escalation".

I do not know which is more despicable, the Russian agression or the French and German cowardice in the face of naked agression. Russia, in shades of Hungary in an earlier invastion in 1956, or Czechoslovakia in 1968, is doing what appalled the world before: invading smaller, neighboring countries.

The Russians are entering Georgia by using the breakaway region of Abkhazia as an excuse since this appears to be a broadening of the conflict over South Ossetia.

Fighting erupted last Thursday when Georgia sent its army to regain control of South Ossetia which, like Abkhazia, has had de facto independence since the early 1990s, the Russians appeared to back these moves previously.

The Russians though are clearly the aggressors, an EU-brokered peace agreement has already been signed by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Not all countries, such as France and Germany, have been silent but they have issued statements: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland issued a joint statement saying that as "once-captive nations of Eastern Europe" they share a "deep concern" about Russia's actions towards Georgia.

Presidential candidate McCain also weighed in on the crisis, supporting his earlier statements on the conflict from months ago; Obama remains on the golf course vacationing in Hawaii.

Note on Ralph Peters, New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy

Although much of what Ralph Peters states, as a retired Lieutenant Colonel and intelligence officer, makes sense, his argument is lost by a lack of clarity and editing. His prose reads more like commands, as a person accustomed to lead, rather than reasoned, thoughtful argumentation.

He writes for example that there is good thinking and sound analysis going on in think tanks (p. 65) but then he fails to quote any of the cited writers nor does he refer to them again. The reader is left to ponder what could be of value in the think tanks if Peters does not bother to quote them? In fact, he does not even bother to include a bibliography so we don't really know to what or to whom his ideas are related. He clearly takes issue with academics, leftists, and other straw men. But since he does not interact with either his supporters, or his critics, any argument he favors is undercut with his stentorian pronouncements.

He makes much of his pronouncements favoring women's rights and issues, as he does of human rights generally which is a positive aspect of the book; however, he does not quote any academic nor does he makes use of any leftist arguments of those who might agree with him. The effect is simply to weaken an otherwise sound argument. He unnecessarily alienates those whom he might convince or realize the valuable insights he might have. Academe has an important role to play in that regardless of one's ideological commitment an author's arguments are strengthened with interaction with others.

The failing to realistically wrestle with the issues leaves him flailing when addressing critical geopolitical areas and issues. He barely discusses Afghanistan, Iran, or Pakistan for example although they are central to his thesis that the U.S. should expand its global supremacy. In a world which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, intractable areas of the world, we are left to ponder how Peters proposes that the U.S. should proceed.

The work appears to be cobbled together from disparate ideas and a clear conservative agenda which necessitates including everything including the kitchen sink. He races through world geopolitical issues, human rights, women's rights, the backwardness of Islam, a conservative agenda, the doctrines of the various military service branches, and their reforms. Its all too much, too quickly, and too superficially presented. The effect of his prose in fact, is a diatribe, and few parts of the world or critical issues are discussed in any meaningful or sufficiently weighty manner even if the reader would tend to agree with him in the abstract.

A major concern is the military role throughout the Middle East, something that would be of interest to the general reader appreciating his military and intelligence background. Yet, since he just brushes by areas of major concern such as Afghanistan and Iran, his insights fail to convince. If an intelligence officer does not appreciate the significance of these regions, he is not believable as he discusses other, lesser critical areas of concern.

This is not to say the book does not have a contribution to make although along these lines Thomas P.M. Barnett's The Pentagon's New Map, is more convincing. Peters' has his prescriptions and recommendations, but similar to Barnett in his lesser work, Blueprint for Action, both fail to convince. The average American seeks guidance in security matters from our gatekeepers but neither Peters nor Barnett are really helpful. In Peters' case, its almost as if we are left with the same military history of the past. We don't really know what to do, yet, once engaged and fighting, our military performs magnificently. The world has never seen better soldiers which is an American strength and officers such as Peters serve this country well.

Islamofascist Hiding in Plain Sight

Graphic source: FBI

Shouldn't something about the Aafia Siddiqui (Arabic: عافية صديقي‎) case dispel the lie that Islamofascists are poor, destitute Arabs who are fighting for a just cause? She is female, a mother of three children, highly educated, in elite American Universities no less, and yet, she was situated to know highly placed AQ operatives who killed Americans. Until stymied herself, it may be revealed that she intended to do the same. We will have to wait until details emerge in court if and when she is convicted.

That she was highly acclaimed is not in dispute. She was awarded the Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal, "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women." As a junior, Siddiqui received a $1,200 fellowship through MIT's LINKS program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds. She graduated from MIT in 1995. Subsequently she studied neuroscience at Brandeis University receiving the Ph.D. degree in 2001 for her dissertation, entitled "Separating the Components of Imitation." In 1999, while living in Boston, she and her later estranged husband Khan founded the nonprofit Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching which has subsequently failed to maintain its non-profit status.

The West enabled her to gain an education that she could not have dreamed about in her own dysfunctional environment. Yet, she hoped to use this Western-given education as a lethal weapon against itself. She even elicited sympathy for her cause while a fugitive from the FBI. The lethal results of her efforts, and those of her collaborators, would eliminate the freedoms afforded her in the West.

Is this the end of the story?

The current location of Siddiqui's three children remains unknown. Because her children were born while she was a US resident they are American citizens. Stay tuned: more to come.

The Good German Review

Why didn't someone warn me about this clunker? The pace is ponderous, the story predictable, and it displays none of the charm of "Casablanca," despite the obvious allusions to a classic film. George Clooney plays a journalist but goodness, after getting beaten up repeatedly, you would think he'd start packing a gun and learn how to use it. He is in the Army after all. Cate Blanchett is totally unbelievable in a role that supposedly fired up several men with desire for her. I would have left her in Germany. Tobey Maguire is interesting in his role, since he gets to be one of the people who beats up Clooney, in fact, its an odd role for him since he looks like he should have gotten beaten up as Spiderman. This is a totally forgettable film. It is appropriate, and even more depressing in black and white, since color would not have helped this Schwarzes und Niederdrücken film anyway.

Free Security Tools

Campus Technology ran a helpful story about free security tools. If you enjoy free technology the article is helpful and informative since I've used the tools described in the article.

Note on Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational

This is a classic. Although at points it sounds dated, written as it was in an age dominated by Freud, the central thesis holds up well and is an important corrective to the predominant view of the Greeks as rational. Doods brings into question the view that religion is rational which I believe is an even more important, and long-lasting contribution. The earliest Age of Reason is more complex according to Dodds and he quite effectively surveys the counter irrational tradition coursing through Greek myths and philosophy. The more typical view of the Greeks overemphasizes the Ionian Enlightenment while Dodds wants us to see a more complex view including Pythagoran sounds, hints of Indian religion and mysticism, reincarnation associated with the cultic mysteries, and the polytheism denatured by later monotheism. Dodds reviews later European thought of Hegel and Nietzsche and others while expounding on the richness of the Greek artistic tradition as with Euripides' 'rationalizing.' Dodds, along with Gilbert Murray, points out that the Greek 'irrational' is not all that far removed from Indian culture during the Axial Age. Greek literary tradition is more akin to Indian thought than many care to consider. We may know less about rational Enlightenment, after Kant, than many thinkers care to admit.

The text is clear with a plethora of lengthy and fascinating sidelights contained in the copious notes. Composed originally as a series of lectures the text is academic but stimulating.

Note on Creel, Richard, Religion and Doubt: Toward a Faith of Your Own

This is really an excellent short work introducing undergraduate students to the study of religion. The author does not assume students have a background in religion or if they are currently religious. The idea is to build an understanding of religion that arises from a personal point of conviction, whatever that may be. I think this is an effective approach given the fact that fewer and fewer students are religious, do not think of religion in confessional terms, and yet, have a shocking lack of understanding of religious issues.

Thug Propaganda

One of the posts by an independent journalist on a counter-terrorism blog commented on thug insurgent propaganda. I want them to remain anonymous for security reasons but I thanked them for their insights which I will quote here (corrected just for grammar, clarity, and spelling):

One rule in reading AQ (or any insurgent) propaganda;
They always excessively exaggerate their strength and success. Part of the rules of the game;
- Their objective is to appear stronger than they are in reality, that is, unbeatable. When in fact, they are fighting with the tactics of the weak because they are so very weak;
- If they have five people in a cell doing bombings, it is a battalion, 10 is a brigade, etc.;
- They will always claim more casualties than they actually killed, usually by a factor of three or more and wounded are claimed killed (3 WIA will result in 10 KIA claim);
- They love being called an insurgent or militia since such terms confer legitimacy on them. Most of what they actually do would be familiar to a Chicago Mobster or a gang member.

I think these insights are valuable in that as long as I have been monitoring the thug websites and interacting with their supporters, these exaggerations seem to hold true. Unfortunately for many Americans, and mainstream media reporters as well, they buy into thug propaganda hook, line, and sinker. I see mainstream reporters naively repeat what thugs say which is a terrible way to practice journalism. The actual information is available if people would just look a bit for accurate data. We are significantly losing the information battle of the war.

August Order of Battle

Graphic source: The Long War Journal

The Order of Battle for August has been released. There were major changes in July mostly due to new formations, re-subordinations, and reorganizations. The Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program notified the U.S. Congress of Iraqi government plans to purchase up to $10.8 billion worth of weapons, equipment, and support services. The Iraqis seem to be planning beyond the interdiction stage to the next phase of national defense. They are making progress.

Olympic Ordeal for China

Kashgar in China's Xinjiang province Graphic source: ©AFP/Graphic

Things heated up again in China as insurgents in the western area of the country attacked in anticipation of the Olympic games. Sixteen policemen were killed and another sixteen were injured in a grenade attack in the largely Muslim-populated Xinjiang region. The latest attack follows deadly bomb blasts in Kunming last month and in Shanghai in May, killing a total of five people, for which a Muslim militant group with ties to Xinjiang claimed responsibility.

Acts of Savagery and Barbarity

Graphic source: BBC

One person is stabbed repeatedly on a bus in Canada and is then beheaded; in India a stampede at a temple kills 140, the victims included 40 children. Which act is normal? Which act is religiously inspired?

The stampede happened at the Nainadevi temple in the Bilsapur district of Himachal Pradesh state, during a nine-day Hindu religious festival.

I have only questions and no answers but at least in this instance religion led to more savagery, brutality, and will not end. Most people would agree that stopping a brutal death is a good thing. Efforts will be made to make buses more secure. I am not so sure any efforts will be made to end insanity that passes for religion.

Peters Re-Drawing of the Middle East

Graphic source: Ralph Peters, "Never Quit the Fight"

Who is to say that the Middle East might be better off looking like Ralph Peters recommends? His vision is to re-draw the boundaries to reflect the traditional antagonisms inherent in the region. Let's face it, its difficult to imagine things being much worse.

The retired lieutenant colonel and former intelligence officer stirred quite a bit of controversy with his statement in the article "Constant Conflict" wherein he states:

There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing.

Constant conflict is the wave of the future. He may indeed be correct. It is clear that the current boundaries in the Middle East are untenable.

Middle East Lukewarm or Hostile About Obama

As summarized by the BBC, the Middle Eastern reaction to Obama's visit was lukewarm at best, at worst it was skeptical of any change in American foreign policy. The pundits stuck to the issues of personal concern and do not comment on any thing else that might concern Americans or others around the world. They are apparently weighing Obama strictly on the issues of concern to Middle Easteners.

EDITORIAL IN PALESTINIAN AL-QUDS

Visits by senior leaders to this country - Israel and the Palestinian territories - are coming thick and fast, and the visit by Obama is just the latest... These repeated visits and this clear bias towards Israel's position once again emphasise the strength and influence that Israel and its allies have across the world.

AHMAD HANNUN IN PALESTINIAN AL-QUDS

Obama's visit to Israel is part of a sad farewell party for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who is clinging to his premiership like a limpet to a rock... As for Obama, he wants Israel to give him additional support to help him reach the White House, and for that he reads out his supportive policies to the leaders of Israel.

HAFITH AL-BARGHUTHI IN PALESTINIAN AL-HAYAT AL-JADIDAH

What would have happened if Obama put on his head a Palestinian keffiyeh [chequered scarf] in the same way that he twice put on the Jewish skullcap? This would have been balanced behaviour, but he did not do it and will never do it. The reason for this is that his 15-hour visit was put on to demonstrate his solidarity and support for Israel's policy.

WALID NUWAYHID IN BAHRAIN'S AL-WASAT

Obama's tour is not exploratory, but rather aims to send a message to American domestic opinion that he is reasserting US administrations' traditional priorities on Middle Eastern issues. And because these issues have grown in number under George Bush, Obama started his tour in Afghanistan, as it was the first victim, followed by Iraq, the second victim, to Palestine, as it is indispensable for confirming established US principles.

AHMAD ZAYBAN IN QATAR'S AL-RAYAH

With regard to substance, Obama did not move away from US policy constants in his statements during his current tour in the region, with only some differences in details and tactics.

The reaction by Middle Eastern commentators is consistent with a poll taken in the region. For example, a March-April 2008 Pew Research poll taken in 24 Arab and non-Arab countries showed that in the Arab nations of Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, confidence in Obama ranged from 23 percent in Jordan to one in three in Lebanon. About a quarter felt similarly about McCain.

Pakistani Intelligence Supports Insurgency

The New York Times ran another outrageous story charging that Pakistani Intelligence (ISI) aided insurgents in the Kabul, India embassy bombing which killed 54 people.

The evidence consists of intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and the insurgents who carried out the attack. C.I.A. emissary, Stephen R. Kappes, the agency’s deputy director, had been ordered to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, even before the attack. However, the intercepts were not detailed enough to warn of any specific attack. The ISI officers involved had not been renegades, indicating that their actions might have been authorized by superiors.

The actual embassy attack was probably carried out by members of a network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, whose alliance with Al Qaeda and its affiliates has allowed the terrorist network to rebuild in the tribal areas. Haqqani battled Soviet troops during the 1980s and has had a long and complicated relationship with the C.I.A. He was among a group of fighters who received arms and millions of dollars from the C.I.A. during that period, but his allegiance with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda during the following decade led the United States to sever the relationship. Haqqani and his sons now run a network that Western intelligence services say they believe is responsible for a campaign of violence throughout Afghanistan, including the Indian Embassy bombing, and an attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul earlier this year.

Also, American officials also charged that members of the Pakistani intelligence service provide insurgents with details about the American campaign against them.

Indian officials had already accused the ISI of helping to orchestrate the Embassy attack.

Pakistan and India clashed again in the Kashmir which undermines a cease-fire established in November 2003. Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at each other for more than 12 hours overnight Monday, in what appears to be the most serious violation of the cease-fire. The nightlong battle came after one Indian soldier and four Pakistanis were killed along the border.

Pakistan is no friend of the U.S. and if the UN were a potent force they should impose sanctions. The lawlessness of the Pakistanis seem to know no bounds. They are quickly degenerating into a rogue state.