Al Qaeda recruiting in British colleges -paper

LONDON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda -- chief suspect behind last week's London bomb attacks which killed more than 50 people -- is secretly recruiting Muslims in British colleges, according to the Sunday Times newspaper.

It is especially looking for students with engineering or computer expertise, the paper added, citing what it said was a leaked report from the Home Office and Foreign Office.

It quoted the report as saying: "Extremists are known to target schools and colleges where young people may be very inquisitive but less challenging and more susceptible to extremist reasoning."

The Iraq war was one of the key causes of young British Muslims turning to terrorism, the report added.

"It seems that a particularly strong cause of disillusionment among Muslims is a perceived 'double standard' in the foreign policy of western governments, in particular Britain and the U.S," the report was quoted as saying.

Semper Fi

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Fox News slammed over 'callous' line

Julian Borger in Washington
Saturday July 9, 2005
The Guardian

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel was under fire yesterday for comments by some of its leading journalists in response to the London bombs.

Speaking about the reaction of the financial markets, Brit Hume, the channel's Washington managing editor, said: "Just on a personal basis ... I saw the futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought 'hmm, time to buy'."

The host of a Fox News programme, Brian Kilmeade, said the attacks had the effect of putting terrorism back on the top of the G8's agenda, in place of global warming and African aid. "I think that works to our advantage, in the western world's advantage, for people to experience something like this together, just 500 miles from where the attacks have happened."

Fox deserves everything they get from this!

Semper Fi

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Taliban 'Spokesman': U.S. Commando Killed

By NOOR KHAN
Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- A purported Taliban spokesman said Saturday that the group has beheaded a missing American commando, but he offered no proof and the U.S. military said it was still searching for the Navy SEAL.

I sure hope not. Hopefully we'll find him alive.

Semper Fi

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Jordan's king says Arab frustration fuels extremism

LONDON (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah said the world must tackle Arab frustration over poverty and perceived injustices in the Israeli-Palestinian and Iraqi conflicts if it is to stem militant violence.

Four bombs exploded in London on Thursday, killing more than 50 people. Three Islamic militant groups claimed responsibility, and while none of the claims have been verified, British officials said the blasts bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

"There is tremendous frustration throughout the Middle East over ... the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- that is the first thing that these extremists use to raise the level of tension," Abdullah said in an interview with CNN on Saturday.

"The second one is Iraq, so if we deal with these core issues it does allow us to bring the level of tension down, but at the same time we do have to improve the lives of Arabs."

Abdullah said Thursday's attacks were made all the more painful as they were "carried out in the name of Islam."

"With every terrorist incident there is a fatwa behind it ... these people who have nothing to do with Islam have tried to justify their actions by hiding behind religion," he said.

Why isn't any of the worlds leaders asking King Abdullah for help with terrorism. King Abdullah went to school in England and also trained there will in the military.

Semper Fi

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Marines launch new raid against Iraq insurgent

By Peter Graff

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Marines said on Saturday they had launched a new counter-insurgency operation, the latest in a series of sweeps designed to root out militant bases in Iraq's Euphrates valley.

Operation Scimitar involved about 500 U.S. troops and 100 Iraqis, making it about half the scale of Operation Sword and Operation Spear in the past three weeks.

The military said the Marines had detained 22 suspected militants since the raid was launched in secret in the village of Zaidon 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Falluja on Thursday.



Semper Fi

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Spate of London bombings leaves up to 50 dead; 1,000 injured

Snip

Near simultaneous explosions rocked the London Tube and three double-decker buses at the morning rush hour today, leaving up to 50 dead, according to a senior French official. British Sky TV said the attacks killed at least 45 and injured more than 1,000. Some local reports have put the death toll at 90.

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And from Think Progress

Rice: Iraq War Has Not Fueled Terrorism



Condoleezza Rice was interviewed today by the BBC and she was asked a very good question:

BEALE: Do you think that Britain and America in Iraq are perhaps fighting the wrong war? They went to war to remove physical weapons of mass destruction but partly Saddam Hussein as well, but that hasn’t stopped the terrorist attacks in Western cities like Madrid, in London today. It seems to have fueled those attacks.

RICE: Oh, I don’t think that anything is being fueled here except the fact that the terrorists are finally being confronted. Again, they were — they’ve been doing this now for a couple of decades and for a while the world, going all the way back to Beirut and going back to the attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 or the attacks on American Embassies in 1998, this has been going on for a while.

Rice’s response underscores the fundamental problem with the Bush’s attitude and approach to the war on terror. The president and his closest advisors refuse to acknowledge – no matter what happens – that the Iraq war has precipitated more terrorist attacks and more terrorists. This has been confirmed by the CIA and the State Department.

The decision to make the Iraq war the central component of the war on terror was a mistake. Rice should spend less time spinning past mistakes and more time creating a new strategy.

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And finally I wanted to add this from Dkos.

Bush was wrong. Again

George Bush

THE PRESIDENT: We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them in the streets of our own cities.

Well, that didn't work out quite as planned, did it?

Semper Fi

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RPT-Taliban again say holding missing U.S. commando

KABUL, July 7 (Reuters) - The Taliban reiterated on Thursday that they were holding a U.S. commando missing in eastern Afghanistan for more than a week and vowed to kill him, but the U.S. military said it had no information to support the claim.

Snip

"We don't need to do this because very soon we plan to execute him and then release his video to the world," he said from an undisclosed location.

"There is no way the soldier is going to be released. He will be executed."

The U.S. military says a four-man team of elite Navy SEAL commandos went missing during a clash with insurgents in Kunar province on June 28. It says two were found dead on Monday, while another has been rescued, but the fourth remains unaccounted for.

Semper Fi

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