Afghan police arrest men with Al-Qaeda Memo

The Pakistani Times is reporting the capture of letters from Zawahiri and Mullah Omar. It will be interesting to see in the weeks ahead what is written in these letters and what intelligence they have provided to American forces. Below is the contents of the article.

Afghan police says that it arrested Thursday two suspected Taliban insurgents carrying letters from the movement's fugitive leader and Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Afghan nationals were arrested separately in eastern Nangarhar province. "One of them was carrying letters from (the Taliban's) Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri," a report said. The man had served as a district chief in Nangarhar during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, the report said. "The second man was arrested with some 500 'night' letters which asked people not to cooperate with the 'illegitimate government' and to obey orders of Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri."

More Data Against the Global Warming Debate

Dr. Patrick Michaels provides interesting insight into the Global Warming-increase hurricane intensity debate in a recent article for TCS Daily. He notes that scientist are fond of showing correlations in a variety of items, like hurrican intensity and carbon dioxide content since 1970 (the hockey stick), but when observing the data since 1945, this apparent correlation just appears as a normal cyclic trend. He notes,

A major hurricane is a very unique event — a lot of disparate factors must become organized in just the right way to allow a major storm to develop. While high SSTs are one critical ingredient, they alone are insufficient to generate a whopper storm. SSTs have been increasing since 1970, as have major hurricanes, but the connection is not nearly as simple as some authors are suggesting. And careful scrutiny of ALL of the available data shows the connection to global warming is less than tenuous.

Dr. Michaels provides detailed analysis which does not coincide with global warming causing increased hurricane intensity. His analysis is worth a read for anybody who wants the the true, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth with regards to global warming and weather intensity.

Hamas Publishes Draft Platform-Leaves Recognition of Israel up to Palestinians

Al-Jazeera just posted a translation of the draft Hamas platform on its website. The articles of the platfom follow:

I. The resistance:
a. The resistance is the legitimate right of the Palestinian people.
b. The resistance is a means but not an end in itself.
c. Israel's intransigence has made all preceding negotiations fail.

II. The Right of Return:
a. Violence and force compelled the Palestinian people to give up their land.
b. The right of return is a principle recognised by all people.
c. The right of return is legitimate and cannot be renounced.
d. The right of return and reparations are a right for all Palestinians.
e. The right of return to homes and lands which Palestinians were forced to leave.
f. The right of return of all Palestinians to liberated territory without having to renounce the land they lost.

III. The truce:
a. The truce is a means to realise our national objectives.
b. The truce does not signify our abandoning the right to resist and respond to [Israeli] violations.
c. The truce is tied to conditions. If they are respected, it will endure.
d. The conditions for pursuing the truce:
1. Halt of all types of attacks against the Palestinian people.
2. Free all Palestinian prisoners.

IV. The agreements:
a. Our position concerning previous accords [concluded by the Palestinian Authority] is tied to the interests of the Palestinian people.

V. Recognition of Israel:
a. The question of recognising Israel is not the jurisdiction of one faction, nor the government, but a decision for the Palestinian people.

VI. Political negotiations [with Israel]:
a. The negotiations are a means and not an end.
b. The previous negotiations did not satisfy the minimum demands of the Palestinian people.

VII. International decisions:
a. Numerous decisions concerning the Palestinian question have not advanced the rights of the Palestinian people.
b. The Israeli occupier applies decisions which serve only Israel's interests.

Article V leaves recognition of Israel up to a vote by the Palestinian people. Hamas' attempt to skirt the issue of recognition of Israel may come back to haunt them if a poll by the Jerusalem Media & Communication Center can be believed.

As posted previously, 66% of Palestinians believe Hamas should honor all Palestinian Authority committments to negotiate with Israel. 58% of those polled stated that the solution to the Palestinian conflict should be a two-state solution. Strikingly, only 10% of those polled believed it should be a Palestinian state over the entire land.

Hamas has deferred recognizing Israel and has put it back in the hands of the Palestinians. Two outcomes are possible.

1. Palestinians vote to recognize Israel.

A vote for recognition will not only be a vote with regards to Article V of the platfom and but against other Articles of the platform as well. For example, take Article VIb. If Palestinians vote for recognition they are in effect stating that previous negotiations did satisfy the minimum demands of the Palestinian people. The same holds true for VIIa. Numerous [Internations] decisions concerning the Palestinian question have advanced the rights of the Palestinian people.

Therefore, voting for recognition, would force Hamas to moderate its stance with Israel and its platform in general. Hamas will either follow the wishes of its people or be removed from power by the people like Fatah. If they follow the wishes of the Palestinians, Israel and the US can begin resuming aid.

Any action by Hamas contrary to the wishes of the Palestinians can be used by Israel or the US to punish Hamas by withholding funding and aid. This will cause Hamas to be marginalized politically and weakened socially which will also result in them being in effect removed from power.

2. Palestinians vote not to recognize Israel.

In doing so, Hamas will feel embolded and continue its terrorist activities; thereby, maintaining its recognition as a terrorist entity which will legally prevent aid from the US and most likely the EU since the Palestinian people themselves will have chosen against recognition and in a sense for the rest of Hamas' platform.

Internationally, it can no longer be stated that not giving aid punishes the Palestinian people since they will be the ones chosing for or against recognition of Israel. Israel will have more latitude to execute its unilateral separation policies since it will not negotiate with a known terrorist group and the Palestinians will also be marginalized internationally.

Either way, the Israeli-Palestinian issue will resolve itself. A vote for recognition will cause Hamas to moderate. Given the numbers in the poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media & Communication Center, this is most likely the outcome.

A vote against recognition will cause external support to dry up causing the Palestinians to in effect fend for and provide for themselves not to mention the their loss of much international support both politically and economically.

As stated several times before, the Hamas victory was a watershed event in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. This just goes to show that democracy is good for a country, regardless of religion. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "A little rebellion now and then... is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government." The Palestinians have just started their revolution for freedom by defeating Fatah. Their next vote will even be politically significant to their freedom. And if polls can be trusted, the Palestinians will vote for recognition of Israel and resolution of this conflict.

Al Qaeda Undercover Soldier in USA Warns of Impending Attack

Rakan Ben Williams, apparently an Al Qaeda undercover terrorist in the US, warns of an impending attack on US soil according to a MEMRI translation. Raken Ben Williams details that there will be two large operations stating,

Let me also inform you that we are talking about two operations, not one. The scale of one of them is larger than the other but both are large and significant. However, we will start with the smaller, and temporarily put the larger on hold to see how serious the Americans are about their lives. Should you value your own life and security, accept Muslims’ demands, but if you shall prefer death (over giving in to Muslims’ demands). Then, we, by the grace of Allah, are the best in bringing it (death) to your door steps.

Later he eloborates the attacks are ready to happen and will cause mass confusion,

The operations are ready to go, we are just waiting for orders from the commander in chief, Osama Ben Laden (may Allah preserve him). He will decide whether to strike or to hold. We swear by Allah that there are so many tricks and tactical maneuvers that will make your heads spin, by the grace of Allah. You will be brought to your knees, but not until you lose more loved ones and experience significant destruction.

In an attempt to fractionalize the citizens of United States he describes how to prevent the attack first by stating the president is incapable of stopping the attack, then pointing to the apparent fact that the Homeland Security Agency will be incapable of preventing the attack. He continues with expressing wonder why states (like Arizona) which are far from Washington DC continue to assist the country in the war against terror. Finally he ends stating that we cannot trust our own media (I kind of agree with him here) and we must watch Al Jazeera and other Muslim sites.

Do not put your hopes on Bush and his clan, they are incapable of protecting you, and if they think they are, let them foil or stop the two upcoming operations, and punish those who are responsible for them.

Therefore, your Homeland Security Agencies would have no choice but to surrender and wait for the inevitable to happen

Your country is comprised of many States that should not have anything to do with Muslims. Take the State of Arizona for example; what does this State have to do with killing Muslims in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq? What interest of theirs serving, helping, and siding with the Jews and Israel? If some members of your Congress and Senate are being used as Jewish tools manipulated by Israel, why do you bear the consequences?

Rid yourselves of media crafters who deliberately kept you in the dark for so long and made a mockery of you before the rest of the world.

While it is unknown whether or not this Al Qaeda agent is a quake or the real thing, it is interesting to note what he seeks. Namely, he is attempting to fracture the country and its citizens from its President, its Congress, between the states, and from its free media with threats.

I guess Mr. Williams did not learn anything from 9/11. Americans, while very separated politically among the Democratic and Republican camps, unite like nobody else against common enemies and bring devastating destruction on any attacker. Being in the US Military in several different states, I can assure everybody that whether an Arizonan, Ohioan, New Yorker, or Californian, people in the US are first and foremost Americans. And while many may not agree with the politics of a President or the Congress, they will stand firm behind their leaders to uphold the freedoms of this great country against attack.

If attacked again, Americans will not hestitate to bring the total destruction of the US Military complex to bear on the attacker. An attack; however great, on American soil would only solidify American resolve that has weakened since 9/11.

An simple attack on a school by Al Qaeda would bring out the several country boys in mass across this country in search of vengeance. A large scale attack severely disrupting the American economy would bring out even more Americans in search of vengeance not to mention global economic disruption.

For Al Qaeda' sake, we can only hope Rakan Ben Williams is a quake.