The Role of the Quds Force in the Revolutionary Guard

While the Guard itself is heavily involved in businesses, internal repression and security, the al Quds (Jeruselem) Force is a much small cadre of senior Guard leaders who can call on special Guard units if it needs boots on the ground activities.
According to U.S. and European intelligence friends, the Quds Force is the group that made the decision to allow senior al Qaeda operatives into Iran, as well as Osama bin Laden’s son, Sa’ad. The group also allowed many family member of al Qaeda to exit Afghanistan through Iran in 2001, including at least one of bin Laden’s wives. The Force seems to be the interlocutor between the Iranian military apparatus and al Qaeda, a relationship that has waxed and waned over time.
It is also the Quds Force, which controls Iran’s military acquisitions and determines what military hardware goes to both the Shi’ite militias in Iraq as well as what goes to Hezbollah in Lebanon. This role as the gatekeeper makes targeting the multiple front groups operated by the Force potentially important, depending on the level of intelligence that exists on its financial structure. More...

The Iran Dossier: Iran´s proxy war against the US in Iraq

Cold Encounter Between Turkish President, Commander-In-Chief Abdullah Gul and Generals

On his first day in office the new Turkish President Abdullah Gul attended the graduation ceremony at the Gulhane Military Academy for Medicine and for the first time as president, met with the military commanders. Before Gul entered accompanied by the Chief of Staff it was announced that everybody should stand for the president. President Gul presented the first diploma to the valedictorian, Speaker Toptan to the second-best student, PM Erdogan to the third and Chief of General Staff General Buyukanit to the fourth student. Mainstream Turkish daily Hurriyet reported that while the applause during President Gul’s presentation was weak, there was a loud and long round of applause for General Buyukanit when he got up to present the fourth diploma.
The Chief of Staff did not salute the President in military style when Gul got up to go to the podium, contrary to the custom. The generals looked solemn and thoughtful during the ceremony.

How to Join Al-Qaeda, Form a Jihad Cell, and Select a Western Target

On August 26, Islamist websites posted an item titled "How to Join Al-Qaeda." It is not clear when the item was written; it was produced by the website Al-Thabitoun 'Ala Al-'Ahd, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Egypt and is currently inactive.
The following are excerpts from the item:
"You feel that you want to carry a weapon, fight, and kill the occupiers, and that it is our duty to call for jihad as much as to call for prayer... All that is required is a firm personal decision to fulfill this obligation, and participation in jihad and the resistance...
"Do you really have to meet Osama bin Laden in person in order to become a jihad fighter? Do you have to be recognized by Al-Qaeda as one of its members to become a jihad fighter? If Al-Qaeda commanders should be killed, would the jihad be eliminated?
"The answers to these questions are the following: I don't have to meet Osama bin Laden to become a jihad fighter. Moreover, there is no need to meet even one jihad fighter to become one. Neither do I need recognition from Al-Qaeda...
"As the first step, imagine that Al-Qaeda does not exist and that you are interested [in waging] jihad - what would you do in this case?... If you know any young people - whether one, two, or more - in your area, mosque, or university who are as dedicated and enthusiastic about jihad as you are, come to an understanding with them, and together form a cell whose objective is to help Islam and only Islam...
"At first, your cell should have no more than five members, all absolutely trustworthy... The cell must have a commander and a shura council... The commander must clearly realize that he is Osama bin Laden to the cell members...
More...

Top IDF officers: Terrorist groups have learned our defense systems

Netiv Ha'asara resident Micha Biton told Army Radio on Sunday morning that contrary to what the defense establishment might say, local residents feel that the security barrier does not actually provide much security. "All of us here have warned and spoken about this, that it's just a matter of time, and something has to be done. The defense establishment, however, like a mantra that repeats itself, has told us not to worry, 'it's all under control.' All kinds of people come to us saying that we're not protected - 'You think this wall protects you, but it doesn't,'" Biton said. More...

Israel’s Armed Forces Undermanned, Under-equipped for War

Al Qaeda Dislocates US Security Plan by Genocidal Massacre

This time, Al Qaeda in Iraq selected a tiny, isolated, unprotected community of some 150,000 Yazidi Kurds, persecuted by Sunni and Shiite Muslims alike, as the victims of its barbarity. Tuesday, Aug. 14, within minutes, three oil tankers driven by suicide bombers had murdered at least 500 people, injured more than 1,000 and transformed an ancient indigenous Iraqi sect into a humanitarian problem.
Al Qaeda timed its brutal attack for maximum disruption of the latest American operations in the framework of the US-Iraqi overall Phantom Strike offensive to secure Iraq against insurgents and terrorists. More...

Iran on anti-racism committee

Despite its numerous calls for Israel's destruction, and repeated denials of the Holocaust, Iran has been selected by the United Nations for a leading position in a committee that will plan the 2009 UN World Conference against Racism.
The planning committee, which will meet for the first time in Geneva on August 27, will be made up of an inner circle of 20 UN member-states, to be headed by Libya. More...

Armed robots to go to war in Iraq

American forces have deployed robots equipped with automatic weapons in Iraq, the first battlefield use of machines capable of waging war by remote control. A US division of British defence company QinetiQ revealed that the 3rd Infantry Division, which is based south of Baghdad, purchased three Talon Sword robots for operations in Iraq. Sword robots are a modified version of track-wheeled bomb disposal devices in use around the world. Soldiers operate the robots with a specially modified laptop, complete with joystick controls and a ’kill button’ that terminates its functions if it goes awry. According to the industry magazine, Defence News the US military has 80 remote controlled armoured robots on order but funding constraints has delayed delivery. More...

Elite IDF Soldiers Refuse Hevron Expulsion Orders

Two officers and 10 soldiers were sentenced to 28 days in an army jail for refusing to participate in the expulsion of Jews from their homes in the former Hevron marketplace.
The original group of 30 soldiers, all hesder yeshiva members of the elite Duchifat combat unit, balked when they were given their orders to replace Border Police officers during the expulsion. They told their commander before boarding an army bus bound for duty in Judea and Samaria that they would refuse to carry out the orders.
In addition to their 28-day sentence in a military jail, the battalion commander, Col. Itai Virov, also demoted the soldiers from serving in a combat unit. The sentences are lighter than the active jail time called for by many left-wing politicians. More...

The Martyrs No One Cares About

By Michelle Malkin - The blood of innocent Christian missionaries spills on Afghan sands. The world watches and yawns. The United Nations offers nothing more than a formal expression of "concern." Where is the global uproar over the human rights abuses unfolding before our eyes?
The Christian missionaries are peaceful believers in Christ on short-term medical and humanitarian missions. Seventeen of the 23 hostages are females. Most of them are nurses who provide social services and relief. Two men, 29-year-old Shim Sung-min and 42-year-old Pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, have already been shot to death and dumped in the name of Allah. These are true practitioners of a religion of peace, not the hate-mongers with bombs and AK-47s strapped to their chests who slay instead of pray their way to martyrdom.
An estimated 16,000 Korean mission workers risk their lives across the globe -- from Africa to the Middle East, China and North Korea. More...

The Enemy Within: Islamist/Jihadist Websites

One can hardly imagine the growth of radical Islam and its jihadi organizations in recent years without the immense reach, impact and capabilities of the Internet. The threat posed by Islamist websites has recently been demonstrated by three cases: the case of the New Jersey group that planned a terrorist attack on Fort Dix; the planned terrorist attack on JFK; and the attempted car bombings in the UK. According to media reports, the terrorists in all three cases were inspired by jihadist websites. There were also two recent court cases in Britain and Switzerland in which terrorists were convicted of using Internet sites to promote terrorist activities.
The jihadist terrorist organizations utilize the Internet for two main purposes: for operational needs, and for indoctrination and da'wa (propagation of Islam). More...

New Al Qaeda Web Ad Threatens 'Big Surprise'

The Blotter - A new al Qaeda propaganda ad, headlined "Wait for the Big Surprise" and featuring a digitally altered photograph of President George Bush and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf standing in front of a burning White House, was posted on the Internet. The brief clip from al Qaeda's "as Sahab" propaganda arm juxtaposes the doctored photo of Bush and Musharraf along with previously seen images of al Qaeda's top leadership -- Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and Adam Gadahn -- as well as a photo of an SUV in a motorcade. There is no additional information provided in the ad, and it closes with the words, "Soon -- God willing," written across the screen and repeated several times.

Why is the American Government Releasing Guantanamo Prisoners?

By Dick Morris - The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Abdullah Mehsud blew himself up at his hide-out in the town of Zhob in southwestern Baluchistan Province in Pakistan, rather than surrender to government forces. But what was he doing commanding Taliban troops in the first place? Mehsud had been captured by American forces in northern Afghanistan in December 2001 and sent to the Guantanamo Detention Center.
The reason he was able to resume his duties as a Taliban commander is because we released him from Guantanamo in March 2004.
Why on earth did we free Mehsud in the first place, permitting him to go back to his day job as a guerilla and terrorist leader? The answer is as obvious as it is depressing: pressure from human rights activists and their journalistic accomplices throughout the world. More...

Pace University: Man throws Koran into toilet. Police throw man in jail

It's now officially a mindcrime in the United States to violate Islamic law. At Pace University, a man has been arrested and will face "hate crime" charges for throwing a Koran into a toilet, after the university caved in to demands from Muslim students.
Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes, police said. It was unclear if he was a student at the school. A message left at the Shmulevich home was not immediately returned.
The Islamic holy book was found in a toilet at Pace's lower Manhattan campus by a teacher on Oct. 13. A student discovered another book in a toilet on Nov. 21, police said.The school was accused by Muslim students of not taking the incident seriously enough at first. Pace classified the first desecration of the holy book as an act of vandalism, but university officials later reversed themselves and referred the incident to the New York Police Department's hate crimes unit. More...