Australian police mount counter terrorism raids

Australian police say they have foiled a mission by Islamic terrorists to launch a suicide shoot-out on a military base in what they say would have been the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil. Police also say they have pinpointed an Australian terrorist cell supporting and directly involved in insurgency activity in the African country of Somalia.

In seven months of surveillance and a series of raids early today, codenamed Operation Neath, approximately 400 officers from the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and NSW Police made four arrests and are questioning several other people. The four arrested are all Australian citizens, police say. They are being interviewed and several others are assisting with inquiries, a joint press release said.

Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland said: "I can assure the Victorian community that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the state remains one of the safest in the country.''

Mr Overland said police acted after it "got to a point where we decided it was appropriate to act" and stressed the overwhelming number of Islamic people in Australia and Melbourne were valued members of the community, not terrorists.

He said he was disappointed by leaks that lead to reporting of the raids in The Australian newspaper. The newspaper this morning reported that national security agencies had uncovered the plot by Islamic extremists to launch a suicide attack on an Australian army base.

It said the raids involved a suspected terrorist cell of Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese backgrounds. The report said members of the group had been observed carrying out surveillance at the army base and other suspicious activity around defence bases in Victoria. Copies of the newspaper were publicly available at 1.30am in Melbourne, well ahead of the raids.

• "Four arrested as 400 police mount counter terrorism raids", Sydney Morning Herald, 8/4/09.
• "Australia arrests 'terror' suspects", Al Jazeera, 8/4/09.
  
• "Australia Launches Major Anti-Terror Operation", New York Times, 8/3/09.

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European Police Science Conference

Future Policing in Europe: a Shared Agenda for Research
18-20 November 2009 - Badhoevedorp, the Netherlands

Within the frame of the CEPOL Annual Programme 2009, The Netherlands with the support of Austria, Germany and the CEPOL RSWG will be organising the Police Science Conference from 18 – 20 November 2009 in Badhoevedorp (Amsterdam), The Netherlands.

The Police Science Conference 2009 will deal with the topic of ‘Future Policing in Europe: a Shared Agenda for Research’. The topic will be approached from both an academic and practical angle. Key-note speakers will provide qualified input, whereas working groups, poster sessions and mini-seminars will give participants the opportunity to present and discuss experience and data.

Visit the conference website for further information.

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Odometer Fraud - Rollback Rip-off!

That shiny, beautiful, freshly detailed, never been in a wreck, gotta buy it today, low mileage, late model, previously owned car or truck may be your worst nightmare. The extra money you took out of savings to buy this vehicle may have just been ripped off by a thief. You may have just become a victim of odometer fraud.

Federal and state laws are in place to protect you from this crime. It is a felony for anyone to knowingly tamper with, adjust, alter, set back, disconnect, or fail to connect an odometer of a motor vehicle, so as to reflect a lower mileage than the motor vehicle has actually been driven, or to supply any written odometer statement knowing such statement to be false or based on mileage figures reflected by an odometer that has been tampered with or altered.

When the above law is violated, title fraud and grand theft, both felonies, are also added to the list of arrest charges against the violator. The three felonies each carry a fine as much as $5,000.00 and/or five years in a state prison or both such fine or imprisonment.

Source:

• "Buyer Beware-Mileage Ripoff", Florida Highway Patrol
  

Resources:

• "Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation", National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
• "Uncovering Odometer Fraud", Carfax.
• "Odometer Tampering and Fraud", website.
• "Federal Odometer tampering Statutes", US Department of Justice.
  

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Analyst Skills: Effective Writing

George Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing

Language is the primary conductor between your brain and the minds of your audience. Ineffective language weakens and distorts ideas. If you want to be understood, if you want your ideas to spread, using effective language must be your top priority. In the modern world of business and politics this is hardly ever the case. In many instances, imprecise language is used intentionally to avoid taking a position and offending various demographics. No wonder it’s hard to make sense of anything!

This is hardly a recent problem, and as George Orwell, the famous novelist, wrote in his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language, the condition is curable. By following Orwell’s "Five Rules For Effective Writing", you’ll distinguish yourself from competitors and clearly communicate your ideas.

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

This sounds easy, but in practice is incredibly difficult. Phrases such as toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, an axe to grind, Achilles’ heel, swan song, and hotbed come to mind quickly and feel comforting and melodic. For this exact reason they must be avoided. Common phrases have become so comfortable that they create no emotional response. Take the time to invent fresh, powerful images.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

Long words don’t make you sound intelligent unless used skillfully. In the wrong situation they’ll have the opposite effect, making you sound pretentious and arrogant. They’re also less likely to be understood and more awkward to read. When Hemingway was criticized by Faulkner for his limited word choice he replied: "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree (Ezra Pound). Accordingly, any words that don’t contribute meaning to a passage dilute its power. Less is always better (it's unfortunate that Alexandre Dumas didn't read this before he wrote, or perhaps it was because the French paid by the word not by the thought). Always.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

This one is frequently broken, probably because many people don’t know the difference between active and passive verbs. I didn’t myself until a few months ago. Here is an example that makes it easy to understand: "The man was bitten by the dog. (passive)The dog bit the man. (active).The active is better because it’s shorter and more forceful."

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

This is tricky because much of the writing published on the internet is highly technical. If possible, remain accessible to the average reader. If your audience is highly specialized this is a judgment call. You don’t want to drag on with unnecessary explanation, but try to help people understand what you’re writing about. You want your ideas to spread right?

6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.

This bonus rule is a catch all. Above all, be sure to use common sense.

• "George Orwell's 5 Rules of Effective Writing", Pick the Brain, 3/21/07.
• "Politics and the English Language", George Orwell, 1946.
• "George Orwell Biography", GeorgeOrwell.com.
  

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New Information on a Changing, Adapting, and Committed Al Qaeda

When Bryant Neal Vinas spoke at length with Belgian prosecutors last March, he provided a fascinating and sometimes frightening insight into al Qaeda's training -- and its agenda.

Vinas is a young American who was arrested in Pakistan late in 2008 after allegedly training with al Qaeda in the Afghan-Pakistan border area. He was repatriated to the United States and in January pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization.

In notes made by FBI agents of interviews with Vinas, he admits he went to Pakistan to join al Qaeda and kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But the terror group appeared to have other ideas for him. He volunteered to become a suicide bomber but was dissuaded at every turn.

On Thanksgiving weekend last year, shortly after his arrest, much of the New York mass transit system including Penn Station was put on high alert. According to the Belgian prosecutor's document, Vinas had told al Qaeda's command everything he knew about the system.

In his interview with Belgian prosecutors Vinas stated that he met with several members of a Belgian-French group while training in the tribal areas of Pakistan. One member of this group, a 25-year-old Frenchman called Walid Othmani, provided French interrogators with an account of his time in Pakistan after being arrested on his return to Europe.

• "Al Qaeda Changing, Training, Plotting", CNN, 7/31/09.
• "Recruits Reveal al Qaeda's Sprawling Web", CNN, 7/31/09.
• "European Gang Trained For Terror", CNN, 7/31/09.
  

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