Merchant sailors fight back: Pirate killed off Somalia

A pirate was killed and several others were detained after a security team thwarted an attack in waters off Somalia. The incident happened Tuesday as a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, the MV Almezaan, was headed to Mogadishu, said the European Union Naval Force. A private security team that was on board the ship returned fire when pirates tried to attack the vessel. The security team was able to repel two attack attempts.

The EU naval force was called in, boarded the three pirate ships and detained six suspects. They also found one pirate who had died of a gunshot wound, the naval force said. No further details were immediately available about his death. The waters off the Somali coast -- the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean -- have been plagued by Somali pirates. The international community has adopted measures such as escorts and monitoring to crack down on piracy. Two cargo ships were seized in the area on Tuesday.

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Three held over Sahil Saeed ransom demand

Spanish police have arrested two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman in connection with a ransom demanded for kidnapped British boy Sahil Saeed. Sahil, five, from Oldham, was taken from his grandmother's home in Pakistan on 3 March, then freed 13 days later. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid said officers in Tarragona, Catalonia, had confirmed the arrests, but said the investigation was still open. He was taken when robbers broke into the house while he and his father Raja Saeed were on holiday visiting relatives in Jhelum, in the Punjab region. Mr Saeed returned to the UK last week against the wishes of Pakistan's police.

Family members were said to have been beaten by the intruders during a six-hour ordeal, which ended with the robbers looting the house and fleeing with the boy. The gang had apparently demanded a £100,000 ransom for Sahil's return, but his family had said there was "no way" they could afford any such payment. Kidnapping has become truly an international enterprise, and the tactics used by one group that seem to work or innovative are used by others soon after.

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Terrorists change target, modus: Police chief

Indonesian National Police chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri said today that the terrorist network in Indonesia has changed its target and modus operandi. “They are aiming at particular parties such as the National Police, the Indonesian Military and other law enforcement personnel,” Bambang said as quoted by Antara news agency. Previously, terrorists mainly attacked Westerners or parties with opposing ideologies. Meanwhile in terms of their modus, terrorists have been said to be changing from their previous bombing methods to using firing weapons, he added. The paramilitary training activities also show that terrorists have further developed their violent patterns. This just goes to prove how adaptive the terrorists are as individuals and how their organizations are learning organizations and this helps them to adjust to law enforcement and counter terror operations.

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North African states meet on al-Qaeda terror threat

Cooperation, coordination and the sharing of information and resources are all at the heart of intelligence-led policing and counter-insurgency operations, whether at interagency or international levels. Threats shared and fought together make the battle much easier. It is therefore heartening to see seven North African countries holding talks today in Algeria to plan a coordinated response to al-Qaeda following a dangerous rise in the terror threat in the Sahara-Sahel region (shown above in yellow and orange, map courtesy of Wikipedia). The conference "indicates our shared will to take adequate and suitable steps in a coordinated manner" in response to the terror threat, "which has seen dangerous developments", said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci.

An al-Qaeda offshoot in North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim), along with other criminal groups, has exploited the vast spaces of the Sahara and Sahel to hide from authorities after launching attacks or kidnapping foreigners. "Obviously, putting into place effective and multifaceted border cooperation between our countries is crucial," Medelci said before he and his counterparts or their deputies from Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger began talks behind closed doors. Medelci also condemned growing links between terror and criminal groups in the region that has seen a rise in weapons and drug smuggling.

• "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)", Anti-Defamation League, 2010.
• "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb", Council on Foreign Relations, 7/21/09.
• "Islamist Terrorism in the Sahel: Fact or Fiction?", International Crisis Group, 3/31/05.
• "Maghreb" overview, LookLex Encyclopedia, 2010.
  
• "Sahara" overview, PBS, 2010.
  
• "Sahel" overview, PBS, 2010.

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Kidnapped British boy found safe in Pakistan

The five-year-old British boy kidnapped while on holiday in Pakistan nearly two weeks ago was today found wandering in a field after being released alone at 9am, police said. Sahil Saeed, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, was snatched from a house in the Punjab region of the country on 4 March, after robbers held his family hostage at gunpoint.

The assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester police, Dave Thompson, said Sahil was released by his hostages in Kharian, about 25 miles (40km) from Jhelum, the town in Punjab where he was kidnapped."It's with some delight and considerable relief that Sahil Saeed, from Oldham, was released at 4.10am GMT this morning in Kharian city in Pakistan by his hostage takers," Thompson said.

"The release was made as a result of a phone call made to his family. He was released nearby to a school, alone, wandered into a local field and was found by some local residents who looked after him until such time his family found him with the police. "At this time, I believe he is well, considering the terrible ordeal he would have been through."

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Dictators and democracies

Colombia and Venezuela are both Latino nations in the South American continent, in fact, they are next-door neighbours. But that's about where the similarities end, at least politically. One, Venezuela, is led by a populist madman with delusions of grandeur, who is taking his country on the path to great hurt, for his own sake. The other, Colombia, is ruled by an imperfect but capable man who has gracefully accepted the Colombian Constitutional Court's rejection of a referendum that would have allowed him to pursue a third term in power. Alvaro Uribe's actions give me great hope for the future of this beautiful country. The two men could not be more unlike in their attitudes, performance and behaviour.

Colombia is possibly the most democratic country in the region while Venezuela seems to be plunging back into the dark ages, propelled there by a dictator who has too much in common with the likes of Saddam Hussein. Venezuela is not a place I would like to do business, feel safe from corruption, or have any confidence that my civil rights would be protected. Colombia, on the other hand, has problems of it's own with drug cartels and Marxist-Leninist terror organizations within it's borders. But I know where I would be more likely to enjoy a good life and have the opportunity to prosper. It wouldn't be where Hugo Chavez was the boss of anything.

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Why the Jihad Jane Case Is a Win for the Patriot Act Read

The Justice Department won't say whether provisions of the Patriot Act were used to investigate and charge Colleen LaRose. But the FBI and U.S. prosecutors who charged the 46-year-old woman from Pennsburg, Pa., on Tuesday with conspiring with terrorists and pledging to commit murder in the name of jihad could well have used the Patriot Act's fast access to her cell-phone records, hotel bills and rental-car contracts as they tracked her movements and contacts last year. But even if the law's provisions weren't directly used against her, the arrest of the woman who allegedly used the moniker "Jihad Jane" is a boost for the Patriot Act, Administration officials and Capitol Hill Democrats say. That's because revelations of her alleged plot may give credibility to calls for even greater investigative powers for the FBI and law enforcement, including Republican proposals to expand certain surveillance techniques that are currently limited to targeting foreigners.

Despite having repeatedly called for greater restrictions on the Patriot Act since its inception, Democrats punted late last month when presented with their best opportunity to roll back the law. After spending months working up a revised bill that would have moderately limited the broad powers created by the existing one, Democrats opted instead to extend the act as is for one year. President Obama signed the extension days before the expiration of the law's most controversial provisions.

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Internet aids terrorist recruiting, radicalization, Pentagon says

Militant groups can radicalize individuals and train them to carry out terrorist acts much more quickly today, in part thanks to the Internet, according to military and counter terrorism experts. Militant groups and some individuals have “maximized” the use of technologies such as the Internet. Government officials say the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly attempted to blow up an American airliner in Detroit on Christmas Day, points to just how fast groups can radicalize an individual.

Mr. Abdulmutallab was identified, contacted, recruited, and trained all within six weeks, according to a Pentagon counterterrorism official. That’s much faster than the two and a half years it took for Osama bin Laden to hatch the plan to attack the US nine years ago. While the two plans vary widely in scope, the faster time frame indicates how adaptive radicalized groups and individuals have become, say experts. “They have really improved their ability to radicalize people and bring them into the fight, which of course severely hampers our ability to disrupt and get ourselves involved in the process,” said Garry Reid, deputy assistant secretary of Defense, in testimony before a Senate panel Wednesday.

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Somali pirates, security personnel in 4 shootouts

Signaling a new offensive mindset, international military officials vowed Friday to fight the pirates as swarms of Somalis moved into the waters off East Africa. Four shootouts with pirates showed that high-seas attacks are intensifying with the end of the monsoon season. Nearly half the 47 ships hijacked off Somalia last year were taken in March and April — the most dangerous months of the year for ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. In the most serious skirmish Friday, six pirates attacked a vessel before breaking off and chasing the French fishing boat Torre Giulia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force.

A French military detachment onboard a nearby ship fired warning shots at the pirates. The ship then approached the skiff and collided with it, sinking the skiff and throwing the pirates into the water. Four were rescued, but two others were missing, Harbour said. A spike in attacks is likely in the coming weeks, said Harbour. This season, though, ship owners and sailors are more prepared to evade pirates, fight back, or they have armed security onboard, raising the likelihood of violence. "We know the monsoon is over. We know they're coming. We're taking the fight to the pirates."

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Al Qaeda's Pakistan Lair Captured

In what is being hailed as a major victory against al Qaeda and its allies, Pakistani forces announced the capture of caves described as the nerve centre of militant activity on the Afghan-Pakistan border. An elaborate network of over 150 caves, believed to have once housed Al Qaeda's number two Ayman al Zawahiri, was revealed to journalists by the Pakitani military

"The location of Bajaur, especially Damadola, is very significant. The militants controlled their operations from this place," Maj. Gen. Attar Abbas, Pakistani army spokesman, said. The caves are impossible to spot from the air, but inside the tunnels carved into the moutains was a warehouse of military supplies including stockpiles of guns and ammunition, bazookas, artillery shells, rocket propelled grenades, mines and stolen U.S. army uniforms. Some of the material was from Iraq, others from Iran.

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German Terrorists Sentenced to Prison After Foiled Bomb Attack

A German court sentenced four men belonging to an Islamist terrorist cell to as many as 12 years in prison for their part in a thwarted bomb attack that could have been the worst in Germany’s post-World War II history. Fritz Gelowicz, Adem Yilmaz and Daniel Schneider were convicted of conspiracy to kill as many people as possible using liquid explosives and of membership of the outlawed “Islamic Jihad Union,” the Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf said in a statement today. A fourth man, Atilla Selek, was convicted of supporting the plot from abroad.

Judge Ottmar Breidling cited the “particular danger” of the planned attack as he read out the verdict, and warned that “homegrown terrorism” is on the increase, the court said. The attacks planned by the so-called Sauerland cell, named after the rural region in western Germany where the men were apprehended, were disrupted in a September 2007 raid involving 300 security officers. Police seized hydrogen peroxide-based liquid explosives with more power than those used in the Madrid bombings of March 2004 or the London bombings of July 2005.

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U.S. Unsure Who's Behind Iraq Attacks

U.S. commanders say they are unsure about who is responsible for the persistent violence in Iraq, underscoring the challenge they face trying to keep a lid on it amid parliamentary elections this weekend. While security has improved significantly across Iraq in recent years, in the weeks leading up to the March 7 vote, U.S. commanders have reported an increase in low-level violence: kidnappings, assassinations, and mortar attacks against Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of government power.

And since August, a series of large-scale bombings aimed at government buildings have ripped through Baghdad, killing several hundred people and shaking confidence in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's security services, following the withdrawal of most U.S. combat forces from major Iraqi cities last summer. Commanders worry the violence could spike further after the election if parties feel there was fraud or if negotiations to form a government after the vote break down. U.S. and Iraqi successes cracking down on organized insurgent groups have caused the groups to splinter into an ill-defined web of smaller, often independent, groups with widely divergent motives, ranging from the ideological to the purely material, according to American military officials.

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Terrorism’s new target: Econo-Jihad

Jihadist terror organizations have set economic terrorism as their new target, intending to harm and paralyze Western economies, the United Sates in particular, claims Prof. Gabriel Weimann, expert researcher of terrorism over the Internet at the University of Haifa. Prof. Weimann monitored websites hosted by terrorist and terrorism-supporting organizations and concludes: “For the Jihadists, the present economic crisis signifies an ideal opportunity and platform to leverage a economic terrorist campaign.”

In the course of a study that was carried out over a number of years, Prof. Weimann surveyed public and encoded websites run by Islamic terrorist organizations, forums, video clips, and practically all the information related to Islamic Jihad terrorism that is flowing through the network. According to Prof. Weimann, the focus on economic terrorism was set in motion with the September 11 attack on the Twin Towers, when Osama bin Laden stated on the video tapes that he sent out that these attacks mostly damaged the United States’ economic base and that these attacks, which cost $500,000 to carry out, cost the U.S. $500 billion. Other publications by bin Laden himself and by other terrorist leaders show that they understand that Western and U.S. power lies in their economic strength.

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Hugo Chávez 'terrorist link' sparks diplomatic row between Spain and Venezuela

A Spanish judge yesterday accused the government of president Hugo Chavez in Venezuela of involvement with the Basque terrorist group ETA, sparking a diplomatic row between the two countries. The allegations, made in a court document by investigating magistrate Eloy Velasco, said that the Chávez government had acted as an intermediary between Eta and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group. "There is evidence in this case which shows the Venezuelan government's co-operation in the illegal association between FARC and ETA," the magistrate said as he issued international arrest warrants for six alleged Eta members and seven Colombians believed to be members of FARC.

• "Profile: Hugo Chavez", BBC News, 12/5/02.
• "Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), Council on Foreign Affairs, 11/17/08.
  
• "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Global Security, 6/25/08

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Miami Man Accused of Selling Video Games to Terrorists

A PlayStation game system is usually a pretty acceptable gift, unless you are shipping it to a suspected terrorist. Khaled Safadi, a business man in Doral, is accused by federal authorities of shipping Sony PlayStation 2 consoles to a shopping center in Paraguay marked by the feds a front for terrorist activity. Two other Miami business men have also been arrested in connection with the large shipments. "It's a children's toy,'' Michael Tein, Safadi's attorney told a federal judge Monday. "He is being accused of shipping a children's toy to Paraguay. It's a shame that the government has pumped this thing up as a terrorism case,'' he said.

A judge granted Safadi's release on $1.5 million bond, but he will be forced to stay home while he fights the charges. Hopefully he saved a PlayStation or two for himself. Apparently, shipping video games to terrorists is serious business to the feds, who have dropped an 11-charge indictment on Safadi, who has never had a run-in with the law. Safadi allegedly sold $720,000 in Sony PlayStation 2 consoles and digital cameras to the Galeria Page Mall in Paraguay between 2007 and 2008. U.S. intelligence officials believe the shopping center is a front for financing terrorist activities out of the Middle East, including groups like Hezbollah. That makes it the poster child for the "Do Not Do Business With" list. Authorities claim Safadi hid the shipments by providing false addresses on invoices.

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CIRA and RIRA Join Ranks in Ireland

Colonel Jennifer Hesterman (U.S. Air Force, retired) has written a great post on how the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have joined forces, at least on some missions. This is apparently evident from the explosion of a large bomb that exploded in front of a courthouse in Newry, Northern Ireland last week (see my previous post). This brings back dark memories of the "The Troubles" in the region years back, that no sane person wants to have a repeat of.

Please read her entire post from Sunday, February 28, 2010 entitled, "CIRA and RIRA Join Ranks in Ireland: Threat at Highest Level Since 1998".

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2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study - Drugs and Alcohol

After a decade of consistent declines in teen drug abuse, a new national study released today by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America® and MetLife Foundation points to marked upswings in use of drugs that teens are likely to encounter at parties and in other social situations. According to the 2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, sponsored by MetLife Foundation, the number of teens in grades 9-12 that used alcohol in the past month has grown by 11 percent, (from 35 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2009), past year Ecstasy use shows a 67 percent increase (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2009) and past year marijuana use shows a 19 percent increase (from 32 percent in 2008 to 38 percent in 2009). The PATS data mark a reverse in the remarkable, sustained declines in several drugs of abuse among teens: metamphetamine (meth) was down by over 60 percent and past month alcohol and marijuana use had decreased a full 30 percent over the past decade from 1998-2008.

Underlying these increases are negative shifts in teen attitudes, particularly a growing belief in the benefits and acceptability of drug use and drinking. The percentage of teens agreeing that “being high feels good” increased significantly from 45 percent in 2008 to 51 percent in 2009, while those saying that “friends usually get high at parties” increased from 69 percent to 75 percent over the same time period. The Partnership/ MetLife Foundation Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) also found a significant drop in the number of teens agreeing strongly that they “don’t want to hang around drug users” – from 35 percent in 2008 to 30 percent in 2009.

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Man caught robbing same bank twice in 24 hours

A German robber held up the same bank in Hamburg twice within 24 hours just a week after being released from jail -- for the same crime. A police spokesperson said on Friday the 50-year-old man went into a savings bank in the centre of the northern port city and flashed a pistol, saying: "I was here yesterday, and I want money again today!" The repeat offender made off with €450 ($600) but with the help of video surveillance cameras, police were able to detain him three hours later. They said he had been in jail for robbing banks in Hamburg in 2002 and 2004. Look we all know about recidivism, repeat offenders and lightning striking in the same place, but this is ridiculous! I guess analysts looking at such crimes just have to get out the old mug shots and look at the bad boys who did it before.

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Terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba: The Next Al Qaeda?

While the U.S. remains focused on hunting down Al Qaeda's original leadership along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a lesser-known Islamic militant group has emerged as potentially the most dangerous terrorist outfit on the planet. For more than 15 years Lashkar-e-Taiba, known widely as LeT, has been targeting Indian interests, particularly in the disputed territory of Kashmir. But Western and Indian intelligence experts say LeT now has a growing interest in attacking foreigners and expanding its reach on a global scale—and that the group has the capability to carry out devastating attacks beyond India. At a U.S. Senate intelligence--committee hearing in February, Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, said LeT is now "becoming more of a direct threat," and "placing Western targets in Europe in its sights." Its "willingness to attack Jewish interests and locations visited by Westerners," he said, "raise[s] concerns that either the group itself or individual members will more actively embrace an anti-Western agenda."

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How to win the cyber-war we're losing

The United States is fighting a cyber-war today, and we are losing. It's that simple. As the most wired nation on Earth, we offer the most targets of significance, yet our cyber-defenses are woefully lacking. The problem is not one of resources; even in our current fiscal straits, we can afford to upgrade our defenses. The problem is that we lack a cohesive strategy to meet this challenge.

The stakes are enormous. To the extent that the sprawling U.S. economy inhabits a common physical space, it is in our communications networks. If an enemy disrupted our financial and accounting transactions, our equities and bond markets or our retail commerce -- or created confusion about the legitimacy of those transactions -- chaos would result. Our power grids, air and ground transportation, telecommunications, and water-filtration systems are in jeopardy as well.

What is the right strategy for this most modern of wars? Look to history. During the Cold War, when the United States faced an existential threat from the Soviet Union, we relied on deterrence to protect ourselves from nuclear attack. Later, as the East-West stalemate ended and nuclear weapons proliferated, some argued that preemption made more sense in an age of global terrorism. The cyber-war mirrors the nuclear challenge in terms of the potential economic and psychological effects. So, should our strategy be deterrence or preemption? The answer: both. Depending on the nature of the threat, we can deploy aspects of either approach to defend America in cyberspace.

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US would lose cyberwar: former intel chief

The United States would lose a cyberwar if it fought one today, a former US intelligence chief has warned. Michael McConnell, a retired US Navy vice admiral who served as ex-president George W. Bush's director of national intelligence, also compared the danger of cyberwar to the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. "If we went to war today in a cyberwar, we would lose," McConnell told a hearing Tuesday on cybersecurity held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

"We're the most vulnerable, we're the most connected, we have the most to lose. We will not mitigate this risk," added McConnell, now an executive vice president for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton's national security business. "And as a consequence of not mitigating this risk, we are going to have a catastrophic event." Tuesday's hearing came a little over a month after Internet giant Google revealed that it and other US companies had been the target of a series of sophisticated cyberattacks originating in China.

"National security and our economic security are at stake," said Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, the panel's chairman and a co-sponsor of a bill seeking to bolster public and private sector cybersecurity cooperation. "A major cyberattack could shut down our nation's most critical infrastructure -- our power grid, telecommunications, financial services." James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that government intervention would probably be needed to crack down on the "Wild West" the Internet has become. The greatest threat to the United States comes from cyber espionage and cyber crime, he said, calling them a "major source of harm to national security."

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