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A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
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The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that Al Qaeda and its associated networks were the greatest terrorist threat to the United States and its partners in 2007. The department's congressionally mandated Country Reports on Terrorism indicated Al Qaeda "reconstituted some of its pre-September 11, 2001, operational capabilities" in tribal areas of Pakistan. The network uses terrorism, subversion, propaganda and open warfare, the report said, and also "seeks weapons of mass destruction in order to inflict the maximum possible damage on anyone who stands in its way." While Al Qaeda has been weakened since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, its leaders "continued to plot and to cultivate stronger operational connections" in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. The report said Afghanistan remained threatened by the Taliban, other insurgent groups and criminal gangs, some of which were linked to Al Qaeda and terrorist sponsors outside the country. State sponsorship of terrorism "continued to undermine efforts to eliminate terrorism," and the report said, "Iran remained the most significant state sponsor of terrorism." The report also noted "significant achievements" against terrorist leadership targets, noting the capture or killing of key terrorist leaders in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Iraq and the Philippines. (Source: UPI)
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Pentagon officials are quietly considering a significant change in the war command in Afghanistan to extend U.S. control of forces into the country’s volatile south. The idea is partly linked to an expectation of a fresh infusion of U.S. combat troops in the south next year. Taliban resistance has stiffened in the south since NATO took command there in mid-2006, and some in the U.S. administration believe the fight against the Taliban could be strengthened if the United States, whose span of control is limited to eastern Afghanistan, were also in charge in part or all of the south. Among the NATO nations fighting in the south are Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark. Canada’s contingent of up to 2,500 troops operates mainly in Kandahar province. A Canadian general is commander of the southern region now and he is scheduled to be replaced by a Dutch general later this year, part of a rotational pattern that some senior Pentagon officials believe gives the commander and his staff too little time on the ground to be fully effective. The internal Pentagon discussions about expanding the U.S. command role were described in recent Associated Press interviews with several senior defence officials who have direct knowledge but were not authorized to talk about it publicly.
All said they thought it unlikely that a decision would be made any time soon. (Source: Chronicle Herald-CAN)
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Roadside bombs struck a NATO patrol and two civilian vehicles in Afghanistan, killing nine people and wounding 10, officials said Thursday. A blast targeting a NATO patrol south of Kabul killed an alliance soldier and wounded four others Wednesday, the military alliance said in a statement. NATO did not identify the nationalities of the troops attacked in Logar province. Militants often target Afghan and foreign troops with roadside bombs. In the southern Kandahar province, roadside bombs hit two civilian cars Wednesday on a road frequently used by foreign and Afghan troops, killing eight civilians and wounding six others. (Source: AP)
The Taliban reportedly has regained control of Pakistan's Darra Adamkhel region and resumed its activities despite the presence of security forces. The region is in the North-West Frontier province near the border with Afghanistan, where violence has escalated with the regrouping of the Taliban. The Taliban retook the region after an impasse in the talks between provincial government officials and tribal elders to guarantee safety of the Indus Highway. The development comes despite the new Pakistani coalition government's policy to end violence in its tribal areas by engaging the militants.
The Taliban Monday captured a military pick-up carrying two army engineering corps employees in the region. The abductees were later released but the militants kept the vehicle. The government had been asking the Sheraki tribe under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations law to hand over the militants. (Source: UPI)
A top Al Qaeda-linked militant long hunted by U.S. and Filipino troops was wounded during a military attack on a rebel encampment in the southern Philippines, a military spokesman said Thursday. Philippine troops bombarded the Abu Sayyaf camp with artillery and mortar fire near Jolo Island's Indanan township on Wednesday, killing at least one militant and wounding rebel commander Isnilon Hapilon in the hand. At least one Filipino soldier was wounded in ensuing clashes. Washington has offered a $5 million reward for Hapilon, who has been accused of involvement in the abduction of 17 Filipinos and three Americans in May 2001. There were reports that Hapilon's son, an Abu Sayyaf member identified as Tabari, may have been killed, but the military has not been able to confirm that fact. (Source: AP)
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The man believed to be the head of Al Qaeda in Somalia was killed in an overnight airstrike along with 10 other people, an Islamic insurgent group said Thursday. The spokesman for the Islamic al-Shabab militia, Sheik Muqtar Robow, said the strike killed Aden Hashi Ayro, his brother, another commander and six others at his house in the central Somali town of Dusamareeb, about 300 miles north of Mogadishu. Six more people were wounded, two of whom later died. It was not immediately clear who was behind the airstrike. Over the past year, the U.S. military has attacked several suspected extremists in Somalia, most recently in March when the U.S. Navy fired at least one missile into a southern Somali town. Somali government officials have said Ayro trained in Afghanistan before the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and is the head of Al Qaeda's cell in Somalia. Sheik Muhidin Mohamud Omar, who Robow described as "a top commander" in the Al-Shabab, was also killed. (Source: AP)
Iraq A car bomb aimed at a U.S. patrol in Baghdad on Thursday killed at least nine Iraqi civilians and wounded 26. The explosion occurred about 9:15 a.m. in a crowded commercial area in eastern Baghdad, police officials said, adding the nine killed included three women and a child. The U.S. military said no American soldiers were killed, although three were wounded in the attack. (Source: AP)
The U.S. military said it killed 17 militants amid escalating fighting in the Shiite slum Sadr City. In fighting late Wednesday and early Thursday in Sadr City, U.S. soldiers killed 17 militants in a series of clashes. Several of the militants had fired on the military or were preparing to. Other militants were killed while planting a roadside bomb. The fighting was reported in statements issued Thursday by the military. Health officials also said clashes in Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City killed eight people, including two women and a child, and wounded 18 others, including women and children. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused fighters of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army of using residents as human shields during close combat in the teeming slum, which has become the epicenter of fighting since a government crackdown triggered clashes in late March. (Source: AP)
United States
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The Department of Homeland Security today will reportedly begin an eight-day disaster-preparedness drill, testing in part how federal, state and local government agencies would respond to a large-scale terrorist attack in Seattle. This drill, one of the largest emergency simulations ever planned in the Northwest, will center on three fictional events in Washington and Oregon. The first is a simulation of a terrorist attack on downtown Seattle today. The second is a release of toxic chemicals on May 5 at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon. And the third is an explosion of a chemical tanker truck on May 6 in Whatcom County. (Source: Seattle Times)
The Justice Department yesterday agreed to grant lawmakers limited access to secret memos that authorized CIA interrogation strategies, an offer that Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) immediately criticized as "certainly too late . . . and too little, as well."
Bowing to intense pressure from congressional Democrats, senior Justice officials said they soon will release unredacted versions of memos drafted by staff members in the department's Office of Legal Counsel. Several of the controversial memos have been repudiated while others remain under fire from critics who say they encourage torture and civil liberties abuses. (Source: Washington Post)
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CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in a speech yesterday that swelling populations and a global tide of immigration will present new security challenges for the United States by straining resources and stoking extremism and civil unrest in distant corners of the globe. The population surge could undermine the stability of some of the world's most fragile states, especially in Africa, while in the West, governments will be forced to grapple with ever larger immigrant communities and deepening divisions over ethnicity and race. Hayden, speaking at Kansas State University, described the projected 33 percent growth in global population over the next 40 years as one of three significant trends that will alter the security landscape in the current century. By 2050, the number of humans on Earth is expected to rise from 6.7 billion to more than 9 billion. With the population of countries such as Niger and Liberia projected to triple in size in 40 years, regional governments will be forced to rapidly find food, shelter and jobs for millions, or deal with restive populations that "could be easily attracted to violence, civil unrest, or extremism." Hayden sais European countries, many of which already have large immigrant communities, will see particular growth in their Muslim populations while the number of non-Muslims will shrink as birthrates fall. The CIA director also predicted a widening gulf between Europe and North America on how to deal with security threats, including terrorism. While U.S. and European officials agree on the urgency of the terrorism threat, there is a fundamental difference, a "transatlantic divide" over the solution. While the United States sees the fight against terrorism as a global war, European nations perceive the terrorist threat as a law enforcement problem. (Source: Washington Post)
Hayden also warned that Russia's declining population will require Moscow to import foreign workers, increasing racial and religious tensions in the former superpower that still has thousands of nuclear weapons. (Source: Washington Times)
Africa
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Zimbabwe's opposition rejected a presidential runoff election despite a media report Wednesday saying the long-delayed official tally delivered them a victory short of an outright win. CNN quoted an unidentified senior official with Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party as saying results from the March 29 election gave opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai 47 percent of the votes while President Robert Mugabe trailed with 43 percent. (Source: AP)
Americas
The Canadian government has also been working on a quick-fix plan to buy six big Chinook helicopters from the United States army to bolster the Afghan mission and meet a requirement of the Manley report on extending the deployment. While government sources have suggested that the Chinook deal would cost "a couple of hundred million dollars," an American defense agency has told Washington legislators that the cost could run to $375 million when spares, tools, technical support and training are included. (Source: Chronicle Herald-CAN)
The Canadian government refused yesterday to fork over any extra cash to Sikorsky Inc., which has asked for hundreds of millions in additional funds to deliver promised helicopters to the Canadian Forces. Issuing a warning that applies to all federal suppliers, Public Works Minister Michael Fortier said Sikorsky has to live up to its $5-billion contracts to provide 28 Cyclone helicopters to replace Canada's 40-year-old Sea Kings.
Sikorsky won a competition in 2004 to replace Canada's aging fleet of Sea King maritime helicopters. At signing, the firm agreed to deliver the first replacement aircraft next January. But Sikorsky told the government earlier this year that it will not meet the original deadline, invoking a delay of up to 30 months. Senior government officials told The Globe and Mail this week that Sikorsky is also asking for $250-million to $500-million in extra funding to give additional power to its helicopter. (Source: Globe and Mail-CAN)
Mexican President Felipe Calderon's decision to talk with guerrillas linked to gas pipeline explosions could encourage foreign investment in Mexico at a time when the government is pushing to open the oil industry to private partnerships, experts said Wednesday.
Last year's pipeline attacks cost Mexico hundreds of millions of dollars and forced the shutdown of hundreds of businesses marking the resurgence of a shadowy leftist group that had been largely dormant since waging bloody battles with government troops in the 1990s. Negotiations could be the only way to prevent further guerrilla attacks, since it is nearly impossible to provide security for Mexico's nearly 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) of pipelines. Calderon's administration on Tuesday set various conditions for talks with the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), which pledged a cease-fire during negotiations. (Source: AP)
A dissident former general has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for bombing attacks on Spanish and Colombian diplomatic missions in Venezuela's capital.
The state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported Wednesday that former National Guard General Felipe Rodriguez was convicted of conspiracy and aggravated burning of property for the 2003 attacks. Rodriguez, who was sentenced Tuesday, was accused of planning the explosions at the Spanish Embassy and Colombian Consulate, which injured four people. Venezuelan officials said at the time that the bombings were meant to destabilize the government of President Hugo Chavez, who shortly beforehand had warned Spain and Colombia not to interfere in Venezuelan affairs. (Source: AP)
France's top diplomat sought help from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday to press for the liberation of rebel-held hostages in Colombia. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is aiming at restarting talks to free hostages who include French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt. (Source: AP)
Asia
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North Korea has tentatively agreed to give the United States thousands of records from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor dating back to 1990 to complement an expected declaration of its nuclear programs, administration and congressional officials said yesterday. The United States is seeking access to those records, as well as samples from toxic waste and the destruction of the "cooling tower" at the North's main nuclear complex in response to criticism that it is lowering the bar in negotiations with Pyongyang. The tentative agreement was reached last week in Pyongyang between Kim Kye-gwan, the chief North Korean negotiator, and Sung Kim, director of the Korea office at the State Department. North Korea missed a December 31, 2007, deadline to disclose details of its nuclear past, a key step in negotiations in which the North would receive aid and other economic assistance for giving up atomic weapons and the ability to produce them. The Bush administration has been holding off on announcing the latest deal to give the North Korean diplomat time to clear it with his superiors. Officials said they were waiting for official confirmation from Pyongyang, which could come as early as today. The United States estimates that North Korea has between 65 and 110 pounds of plutonium. It triggered a small nuclear explosion in an October 2006 test. Also last week, the administration told Congress that a Syrian plutonium facility that was bombed by Israel in September was built with North Korean help. (Source: Washington Times)
About 350 people fled their homes in northern Japan on Thursday to escape poisonous fumes released by a neighbor who killed himself by mixing detergent and other chemicals, the latest in a series of such suicides. The panic in Otaru came just hours after national police urged Internet providers to crack down on Web sites spurring a wave of detergent-related suicides in which 50 people have reportedly died in the past month.
The rash of such suicides in Japan, which already has one of the world's highest suicide rates, has triggered widespread concern because the powerful fumes can seriously harm bystanders and rescuers. (Source: AP)
Europe
Three bombs exploded in Spain's Basque region on Thursday. No one was injured in the blasts, which police said were carried out by the separatist group ETA. All three blasts, which occurred on the traditional workers holiday of May Day, targeted labor-related government buildings. Basque regional police said one of the bombs went off in Arrigorriaga near Bilbao and the other two exploded in San Sebastian. The first bomb targeted a Labor Ministry building and came without warning. The other two were preceded by a call from someone who claimed to be from ETA. The person warned when and where the bombs would explode. The San Sebastian bombs were smaller than the first and exploded near a Basque regional government office of an agency that deals with workplace safety. ETA declared a cease-fire in March 2006 but ended it in December of that year after failing to win concessions in talks with the government. The group has killed more than 800 people in its decades-old struggle to create an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France. (Source: AP)
It was reported that Ukraine faces an uphill battle in its efforts to join NATO, with objections from Russia and about half of its population opposed to membership in the Western alliance. Ukrainian officials are confident that their nation will eventually join NATO, despite Russian objections that kept it from being invited into the Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the alliance's recent summit in Bucharest, Romania. (Source: Washington Times)
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080501/FOREIGN/253562734/1003
Belarus expelled 10 U.S. diplomats Wednesday, deepening a dispute over sanctions imposed on the former Soviet republic by Washington because of the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko. Jonathan Moore, the head of the U.S. mission, told reporters in the Belarusan capital, Minsk, that he had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry and informed that the American diplomats had 72 hours to leave the country.
(Source: Washington Post)
NATO repeated its warnings Wednesday to Russia against meddling in the affairs of Georgia as it deals with its two breakaway republics. The military alliance said Russia's actions threaten to "undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Georgia as it deals with the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Two days after a visit by Georgian special envoy David Bakradze to NATO headquarters in Brussels resulted in a warning to Russia to refrain from using force to aid the breakaway republics. Russia has sent peacekeeping troops to the region, saying it suspects Georgia is preparing to invade the breakaway republics amidst rising tensions. It says Georgia has gathered 1,500 soldiers and police units in the upper Kodori Gorge region of Abkhazia, where Tbilisi still holds sway. Georgia has denied it has any plans to invade the republics. (Source: UPI)
News agencies quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that extra Russian troops deployed Thursday in the Georgian separatist zone of Abkhazia, despite Georgia's objections and concern in NATO. The troops were setting up camp, defenses and communications. There was no immediate information about how many extra troops had been sent to bolster the force of more than 2,000 peacekeepers already deployed under accords ending the separatist war between Georgia and the Abkhaz minority in the early 1990s. (Source: AFP)
Middle East
Several Palestinian militant groups signed off Wednesday on a temporary truce proposal, but a cease-fire appears unlikely. Israeli officials say it would merely be a pretext for Hamas and other militant groups to rearm for a new round of hostilities. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Wednesday that if the Gaza militant groups stopped launching rockets at southern Israeli cities and halted weapons smuggling over the Egyptian border, Israeli army attacks would end automatically. The prospect of reopening the Rafah crossing and ending Gaza's isolation isn't yet an option, Regev said, but a period of mutual calm "could create a positive dynamic." (Source: Los Angeles Times/Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Twelve Palestinian factions have accepted Cairo's proposal for a temporary truce with Israel, beginning in Gaza, Egypt announced on Wednesday. As a reward for Hamas' acceptance of the Egyptian truce proposal, Egyptian authorities released Ramzi Hamid, 35, a senior commander of Hamas' armed wing, who was held in an Egyptian prison for four years. (Source: Jerusalem Post)
On Wednesday, the Israel Air Force bombed a rocket-manufacturing plant in Rafah in Gaza, killing one person and wounding three. (Source: Jerusalem Post)
The person killed in the Rafah airstrike was the deputy commander of the Islamic Jihad military wing, according to Palestinian sources, who said he also served as a school headmaster at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school. (Source: CNN)
Palestinians in Gaza fired two Kassam rockets that landed near Sderot Wednesday night shortly after the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony began in the town's sheltered cultural center. Some 15 rockets were fired at Israel on Wednesday. (Source: Ynet News)
Senior U.S. administration officials stressed during meetings last week in Washington with Mahmoud Abbas that President George Bush does not intend at this stage to present guidelines of his own for resolving the core issues of an Israeli-Palestinian permanent peace agreement. The American message was that the administration is pleased with the pace of negotiations and does not intend to intervene with guidelines. Officials who met with Abbas in Washington also said Abbas had not brought any political proposal of his own regarding the core issues. "It was as though he had arrived without a real agenda and without preparing," one official said. (Source: Ha'aretz-Israel)
Iran has taken command of its nuclear technology and could have an atomic bomb in a year, Transportation Minister, Shaul Mofaz, was quoted as saying Wednesday, citing Israeli intelligence. According to Israel Channel 10 television, Mofaz made the comments during talks with U.S. officials in Washington. (Source: Jerusalem Post)
Joe Varner is Assistant Professor and Program Manager for Homeland Security at American Military University
