CRC Open Sources
Counterterrorism Research Center Open-Source Intelligence Briefs
June 22, 2009
IRAN: World Tribune reports (from Iranian pro-democracy sources) that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the IRGC’s Basij paramilitary force have employed Shia Hizballah and Sunni Hamas operators in Iran in attacks against “anti-government [pro-democracy] protesters in the wake of the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”
So much for Western sympathizers and enablers of Jihadi-terrorists who since 9/11 have been propagating disinformation re: Shia and Sunni not operationally collaborating. Fact is, Shia and Sunni extremists do – and have – collaborated on every front worldwide for decades.
According to open sources: Farsi-speaking undercover security agents are issuing the orders. The orders are then translated into Arabic. The translated commands are given to “the militias.” The militias are attacking the demonstrators.
Our sources are telling us, IRGC forces “are utilizing foreign fighters from Lebanon” because – with all of the international focus on Iran – the IRGC does not want to appear “in an official capacity” to be conducting direct-action operations against Iranian civilians. The IRGC wants its foreign subsidiaries Hizballah and Hamas to do its dirty work. And the operations are ongoing.
Tom Harb, secretary general of the International Lebanese Committee for the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, tells us: “The UN must immediately investigate the validity of these disturbing reports, because this – like so many other Hizballah activities –would be in direct violation of UNSCR 1559 and 1701.”
IRAQ: On the victory-in-Iraq front (which far too many Western journalists and American politicians who have pretended to support the troops, but who have done their level-best to undermine U.S. military operations in Iraq since 2003): we have more news of amazing albeit underreported success on the ground in that country.
According to Agence France Presse and Stars & Stripes: “The U.S. Army handed over a base in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, once a bastion for anti-U.S. insurgents, to Iraqi forces on Saturday as the deadline nears for its pullout from Iraq’s cities. The transfer of the Joint Security Station comes barely more than a week before a June 30 deadline for U.S. forces to pull out of Iraq’s urban centers as required by a security accord signed between Baghdad and Washington in November.”
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Bolger – commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division, author, longtime friend of ours, and a general-officer with a reputation of leading from the front in combat – said, “This land has been bought with a very high price: 136 US soldiers and 184 Iraqi soldiers shed their blood to protect Sadr City [between January 2006 and present].”
Bolger added: “We Americans did not give you this place: you have earned it, paid with Iraqi blood, sweat and tears. … Fighting here was fierce and deadly. Thank God the worse of that has passed. ”
Bolger added that American forces would return to Sadr City “to respond to violence if requested by the Iraqi government.”
NORTH AMERICA: Christopher Holton, a vice president with the Center for Security Policy (CSP) and the director of the CSP’s Divest Terror Initiative, emails: “This evening [Saturday] we were alerted to a new, disturbing event involving a Jihadist organization holding an event at a private Islamic school in the Chicago, IL area. The purpose of the event is to call for Shariah and Islam to replace capitalism.
More detail at Shariah Finance Watch.
— Chris Carter contributed to this report.
— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.
In: Geopolitics · Tagged with: Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, IRGC, Shariah Finance
Radio host Michael Savage banned from UK
Britain Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has attacked free speech again. This time, Smith banned U.S. talk show host Michael Savage and 15 others for “fomenting hatred”. Smith decided to release the list of people banned by the British government since October from entering the country.
In her defense, she has banned some notable bad guys, including Samir Kuntar – the now-released Hezbollah child murderer, also banned were a Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, a neo-nazi, and a HAMAS MP. Madeleine Gruen has more on the banned at the Counterterrorism Blog.
But this comes from the same Home Secretary who banned Dutch PM Geert Wilders for releasing the film Fitna the same time as she allowed the editor of Hezbollah’s newspaper to conduct a national speaking tour. Not exactly what I would call consistent.
“I think it’s important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it’s a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won’t be welcome in this country,” Smith told GMTV in an interview.
Exactly what values and standards did Savage violate? Understandably the KKK and HAMAS have extreme views, but what are Savage’s? I listen to Savage from time to time, and trust me – if there was hatred fomented, I would not waste my time.
In: Politics, Religion, Society · Tagged with: free speech, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islam, Jacqui Smith, KKK, Michael Savage, UK
Latest CRC Open Sources Intel Brief
I am now contributing at Family Security Matters’ Counterterrorism Research Center. Here’s the latest entry:
GAZA: HAMAS terrorists got a nasty surprise when they attempted to shoot down an Israeli helicopter during their war with Israel in January.
According to The World Tribune: HAMAS smuggled four American-made Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile systems through Egypt last year. Then – during the January 2009 war – when an American-made Israeli Apache attack helicopter came under fire by HAMAS, the Raytheon friend/foe identification system on the Stinger would not allow the gunner to target (what the system read as) a friendly target. When the missile was launched, instead of acquiring the helicopter, it picked up the heat signature of a HAMAS machine-gun position.
“The Stinger was drawn by the heat of our guns rather than the engines of the Israeli helicopters,” The Tribune’s source said. “At that point, we stopped using this weapon.”
The source said HAMAS is now purchasing Russian-made SA-16s.
In: National Security, Society · Tagged with: Hamas
Poland Withdraws from UNIFIL and HAMAS on the market for new MANPADS
LEBANON – A Polish ambassador announced that Poland will withdraw its 450-member force from Lebanon after a Polish officer was arrested by Hezbollah.
On March 28 in Southern Lebanon, a UNIFIL patrol was stopped by armed Hezbollah militants. Hezbollah searched the vehicle, seizing a map and camera, which were handed over to authorities. The Polish officer was arrested and handed over to the Lebanese army.
NOW Lebanon reports that an investigation is underway as to why the captain took pictures without permission from UNIFIL and whether he was spying for Israel.
Poland – who has maintained a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon since 1982 – blames their withdrawal on the global economic downturn. Agence France Press reported that Poland announced their intention to withdraw in February 2009. They are also ending their troop commitments to Chad and the Golan Heights.
GAZA – HAMAS terrorists got a nasty surprise when they tried to shoot down an Israeli helicopter during their 22-day war with Israel in January.
According to The World Tribune, HAMAS had smuggled four American-made Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile systems through Egypt in 2008. When an (American-made) Israeli Apache attack helicopter came under fire by HAMAS, the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system on the Stinger would not allow the gunner to target what the system thought was a friendly target. When the missile was launched, instead of acquiring the helicopter, it picked up the heat signature of a HAMAS machine gun position.
“The Stinger was drawn by the heat of our guns rather than the engines of the Israeli helicopters,” The Tribune‘s source said. “At that point, we stopped using this weapon.”
The source said that HAMAS is now on the market for a Russian-made SA-16.
In: Military, National Security · Tagged with: Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Operation Cast Lead, Poland, UNIFIL
Pot, meet Kettle
This is a transcript of the Unto the Breach program. Click here for the audio.
The U.K. newspaper the Guardian revealed this morning that
One of the chief Iranian concerns revolves around suspicion that the US is engaged in covert action aimed at regime change, including support for separatist groups in areas such as Kurdistan, Sistan-Baluchestan and Khuzestan.
How can Iran say that with a straight face? Iranian-funded, -trained, and -supported terrorists are operating in dozens of countries. Iranian terrorist cells are all over Europe, Latin America, even the United States. Hamas governs the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah has 50,000 rockets pointed at Israel and has veto power in the Lebanese government. As we revealed yesterday, we are now fighting Iranian proxies in Iraq rather than al Qaeda.
Remember that until 9/11, Hezbollah was responsible for more U.S. deaths than any other terrorist group. In 2008, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff described Hezbollah as “the A-team of terrorists in terms of capabilities, in terms of range of weapons they have, in terms of internal discipline.” And Iran is concerned that the U.S. may be up to something?
In: Geopolitics · Tagged with: Hamas, Hezbollah, Hillary Clinton, Iran
Hamas Rearms, GITMO Recidivism
This is a transcript of the Unto the Breach program. Click here for the audio.
Despite the three-week Israeli operation into Gaza, the terrorist group Hamas may be even better off than they were before Operation Cast Lead.
Senior adviser to Hamas’ Prime Minister, Ahmed Yousef, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Hamas was rearming, and that the terrorist group had no intention of a peaceful resolution with Israel. That’s the same Ahmed Yousef that gave Hamas’ endorsement of Barack Obama back in April 2008.
Yousef called on Obama to open direct negotiations with Hamas, “I’m sure that with time, [the US] will contact Hamas one way or another, either secretly or openly they will sit with Hamas, because without Hamas nothing can be moved.”
Obama told the New York Times in a May 2008 interview that Hamas (and Hezbollah) have “legitimate claims.”
That’s creepy, and a sad departure from the Bush Administration, who refused to negotiate with terrorists. And when you consider that Obama still plans to open direct negotiations with Iran, who is on the doorstep of a nuclear arsenal, it is easy to see why Hamas believes that Obama will talk with them.
In: National Security · Tagged with: Ahmed Yousef, al Qaeda, Guantanamo Bay, Hamas
Hamas’ stance on peace with Israel
This is a transcript of the Unto the Breach program. Click here for the audio.
Hillary Clinton is going through her Senate confirmation hearing today for Secretary of State. If I were there, I would love at some point for someone to make this statement: “the statements you have made today really require the willing suspension of disbelief.”
After Clinton’s confirmation, she will have to face the situation in the Middle East. The world is always calling on the Israelis to stop the violence. But telling Israel to stop shooting back isn’t exactly the best path to peace. Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip four years ago. You would think when that happened, Gaza would have settled down and relaxed, maybe even become a productive member of the world society.
But the terrorist group Hamas staged a coup and swept to power through murder and intimidation. While in charge of Gaza, Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel. In fact, more than Nazi Germany fired into Britain during the Blitz. And those countries were fighting World War 2! Gaza is portrayed as the victim of the Israelis, but the Palestinians have only themselves to blame.
In: National Security · Tagged with: Barack Obama, Gaza, Hamas, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Israel, pirates
Children of Hamas
One of the saddest things I have ever seen. Hamas is destroying these children’s lives. Where is the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child? There is no outcry from the international community. I thought we were doing everything “for the children.”
In: National Security · Tagged with: Hamas, human rights
