April 29, 2009

PUBLIC SPEAKING

Speaking publicly for the first time, former Seattle resident James Ujaama testified Tuesday about his efforts in 1999 to create a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon for would-be jihad warriors wishing to take up the fight against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan...

There is lots of this, and more coming. I have been following Ujaamas story for a long while now and I have spoken to people who know him. Last I heard his wife is here. Various people have said to me that Ujaama is testifying against Hamza so he gets to see his family again one day, not because he believes he is a terrorist. His attempts to get out of testifying maybe support this theory? I don't know. Obviously I have no idea about this Kassir fella, though I remember he said some pretty extreme things whilst he was in Sweden.

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Intelligence is Difficult

and still, in the case of 7/7 it is incomplete

...A request from MI5 to West Yorkshire Police for information on the men from Beeston was never followed up. Scotland Yard also failed to pass the surveillance pictures to the FBI to show to Mohammed Babar, an al-Qaeda supergrass who organised a terror training camp in Pakistan attended by Khan.

Even though the mobile telephone number of Khan had already appeared during an investigation into Q, a man from Luton who was using young British men to courier money to al-Qaeda in Pakistan, no further action was taken against him.

If the police or MI5 had not dismissed Khan as a peripheral figure they might have followed him and Tanweer to Pakistan in the following December. It was there that the pair received the orders from the al-Qaeda leadership to attack London.

At the same camp was Muktar Said Ibrahim, the leader of the cell that attempted an attack in London on July 21. Members of another British terror cell, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were also present.

Perhaps the security services would also have made the link to Mohammed Hamid, who styled himself Osama bin London. Throughout 2004 he organised jihad training camps in Britain to radicalise young men and send them to fight in Afghanistan and East Africa. Among those whom he trained were Ibrahim and the other three men in the 21/7 gang, Yassin Omar, Hussain Osman and Ramzi Mohammed.

Perhaps they would also have noticed how the hair of Khan and his fellow bombers was bleached by the explosives being made at their two bomb factories, which led to neighbours complaining about the smell.

A senior anti-terrorism officer insisted that the decision not to arrest the July 7 bombers before the attack was down to human judgment and a lack of resources, and had been the right decision at the time...

...Detectives remain convinced that other people were involved in the preparation for the attacks on July 7. The fingerprints of up to ten unidentified suspects were discovered at the bomb factories...

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BEHESHTI

A minicab driver waited in a getaway car while two accomplices firebombed the north London publisher of a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammed, a court has heard.
Abbas Taj drove through Lonsdale Square, Islington, where the publisher was based, twice before parking nearby.

He then waited while his accomplices poured diesel through the letterbox of publishing house Gibson Square and set fire to it, a jury at Croydon Crown Court was told.

David Waters QC, prosecuting, said Taj drove off when armed police pounced on Ali Beheshti and Abrar Mirza but was pursued and arrested nearby.

Beheshti, 41, and Mirza, 23, pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life...

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April 28, 2009

MORE FROM BLY

...Kassir, according to court documents, had come to Bly, Ore., on the orders of Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Islamic preacher and purported al-Qaida recruiter in London, to help Ujaama set up a Jihad training camp on U.S. soil.

Ujaama had promised Abu Hamza guns, recruits and terrain remarkably similar to Afghanistan. Kassir, a hardened Jihad fighter who claims he's killed dozens in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya, was purportedly dispatched from London with another man and $12,000 in startup money.

What Kassir and his comrade found after their 7,000-mile trip were a couple of dilapidated trailers, a motley group of followers — including women and children — and a lot of big talk from Ujaama.

So Kassir, according to documents and eyewitness accounts, decided that he would kill Ujaama and bury him in Bly. Ujaama managed to keep his head.

But Kassir, a Lebanese-born Swedish citizen and engineer who once bragged that he was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, may wish he'd carried out the threat...

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April 22, 2009

IF YOU WANT PEOPLE HIT...

You''ll have to hit 'em yourself say Police in The Sun (Who owe me money):


Riot cops ‘to go soft on demo’

RIOT squad cops will refuse to enforce the law at a Budget day demo in London today.

Police in the Met’s Territorial Support Group, stung by criticism over the G20 demo, will take a “softly, softly” stance...

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BLY

...In opening arguments at Manhattan federal court, prosecutor Michael Farbiarz said Kassir was a follower of Abu Hamza al-Masri, an Egyptian-born Muslim cleric in prison in Britain for inciting followers to murder nonbelievers.

Armed with Hamza's orders and "a stack of money", Kassir traveled from Europe to Seattle and then 10 hours by car to Bly, Oregon "to establish a training camp for holy war, for jihad," Farbiarz said.

"The purpose of the training camp was to train young Muslims to go and do jihad in Afghanistan," he said. "The defendant was a personal follower of Abu Hamza, he admires Abu Hamza."...

...If convicted, Kassir faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Kassir, who was born in Lebanon but became a Swedish citizen in 1989, was arrested in Prague in 2005.

Another suspect in the case, Haroon Rashid Aswat, a British citizen and one of Hamza's chief aides, is appealing his extradition to the United States.

Hamza, who also faces charges for helping plot the capture of 16 western hostages in Yemen in 1998, won an interim order in 2008 from the European Court of Human Rights blocking his extradition to the United States.

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THAT WAS QUICK

..Two men today admitted plotting to firebomb the home of the publisher of a controversial novel about the prophet Muhammad.

Ali Beheshti, 41, and Abrar Mirza, 23, pleaded guilty at Croydon crown court to conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life...

I am told that the guy who jumps into shot on the right at 6.08 is Ali Beheshdi. As I have said before he was always one of the most aproachable people outside Finsbury.

April 20, 2009

In defence of the Police..

I have met some really good cops on demos who I could cut the bullshit with and talk to as human beings. This has really meant a lot to me over the years. I have family members who work for the Police. I have seen Police very recently, and over the last year on at least three occasions put themselves out to rescue friends of mine who had developed problems mentally. I am really glad they were there and they left without waiting for thanks.

I can't stress how important it has been for me over the years to look through the uniform, nor how often I have met the human there. We are very lucky in this country and I am sure we can sort this all out still.

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Give me your number and I'll get back to you...

Cop Ignores ID request on camera in The Sun (Who owe me money)


...The CCA claimed they had been flooded with allegations of brutality, including a baton-charge of a peaceful protest camp. Their report, being sent to MPs, said: “The failure to wear identification should be treated as a serious disciplinary matter. It is vital that police officers in riot gear have their ID on their fronts and backs at all times in extra large font so it is clearly visible.” ...The Star


...Sir Ken said that the public response to footage showing several officers making unprovoked attacks, including against Ian Tomlinson, who later died of internal bleeding, had suffered from "a lack of perspective and a lack of objectivity"....The Telegraph


Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is said to be "furious" that officers have been on duty with their identification numbers concealed. Telegraph

Should read: Sir Paul Stephenson is said to have been "furious" that officers have been on duty for years and years and years with their identification numbers concealed . If he doesn't know this, why is he in charge of the Police?

...Mr Malthouse said: “The policy of the Met Police is very clear. The public have the right to be able to identify any uniformed police officer and so badges should be worn at all times. We support the Commissioner's decision to hold officers to account when they purposely conceal their identity.”

The Home Office also criticised officers who fail to wear their epaulettes, insisting the “public has a right to be able to identify” them.A Home Office spokesman said: “We welcome the Commissioner's statement that all uniformed police officers should be identifiable at all times by their shoulder identification numbers, and wholly agree that the public has a right to be able to identify any uniformed officers while performing their duties.”

A Yard spokesman said: “Where provided, epaulettes with identifying letters and numerals or insignia of rank must be worn and must be correct and visible at all times. “It is the responsibility of all police officers, and their supervisors, to ensure this policy is followed.”....(Evening Standard)

If I was the Police I would put Barry back in charge. Has he upset someone high up? Last I heard he had been moved to serious violent crime. He is a wasted asset.

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April 19, 2009

etc

...Mr Hardwick also said that typical complainants of police behaviour were from middle-class backgrounds, who did not previously have a jaundiced view of the police.

"If you are Mr and Mrs Suburban who have a good view of the police and think they do a good job, and they stop you and swear at you, then you are shocked and you complain." ...

etc, etc, etc

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April 17, 2009

TOMLINSON

Ian Tomlinson died of an abdominal haemorrhage and not a heart attack, a second post-mortem has shown...

...Mr Tomlinson's son Paul King said: "First we were told that there had been no contact with the police, then we were told that he died of a heart attack. Now we know that he was violently assaulted by a police officer and died from internal bleeding.

"As time goes on, we hope that the full truth about how Ian died will be made known."

He said the family hoped there would be a "prompt referral" to the Crown Prosecution Service for charge...

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April 16, 2009

You don't have to watch the news anymore!

Let Charlie watch it for you. This is fucking great.

On this one week in a thousand where I can't complain about news as it is the first time to my memory a member of the TSG has been brought to book my the media for what they do ALL THE TIME.

When I started protesting it was fairly much an accepted theology that the reason the "Mainstweam media" didn't report what the TSG were doing ALL THE TIME was because they were in colusion with them and the government. That is why Indymedia was set up.

I thought this for a while. I went to a few peaceful protests and a few which turned violent, but the violence fizzled out over the years, mainly as I have said here many times before, as a result of the FIT squad taking photographs of people and spending a lot of time trying to work out who these people were and hassling them as much as possible.

With the protesters generally getting more peaceful as a result, and the TSG still stuck in the 1980s they were really ripe for being caught out, and they were caught out badly, with the mainstream media finally turning on them. Stuff I used to see endlessly on Indymedia suddenly jumped out of the goldfish bowl. You can see it happening on one historic post from a website I was frankly bored by a long time ago.

These days I am not anti-mainstweam media. I have been trying to make stuff for TV for as long as I have been writing here. I have met good and bad journalists whilst occasionally following mad Muslims around and going to court cases. I haven't asked them, but I think the reason why the sort of stuff the TSG get up to ALL THE TIME hasn't been on TV before is because most of these journalists were as bored by all this as I was.


Rachel North has a lot of good stuff to say here
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April 15, 2009

You don't need to see his identification..

or maybe you do...

More Police hit people! shockers from the Guardian and even more shocking-

...Sir Paul also stressed all uniformed officers must wear shoulder identification numbers so they can be easily identifiable by the public...

wot? So they can be easily identified by the public, like?

Tim Ireland isn't standing for it here

Home Secretary, Boris Johnson and The MET... Not available for comment.


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BELIEVE!

I have no idea what the fuck this is about but I am sold.

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April 14, 2009

The Police Hit People on Demonstrations?

What the fuck is this about? and here on Yahoo news. How is this anything new? What is the surprise or rather why is this being presented as a suprise or something new? All these journalists have been on the same demostrations I have been on over the years.



March 2003. We get an explanation of what is going on and why from a Policeman. Seconds later someone is shouting at this Policeman "Don't hit the girl! What a big man!"

Why?

It wasn't a woman either. It was a teenage girl.

What are the media rules of engagement now? Does everyones riot footage finally get to TV? All I want is people to be honest about our side and the Police to be honest about what they are responsible for. They are a hundred times better already than Police almost everywhere else on the planet. Progress can be made if lessons learned at the Stonehenge round table talks are applied to anti-Capitalist protest.

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BLY

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of a Lebanese-born Swedish man accused of helping set up a militant training camp in rural Oregon and operating websites showing how to assemble bombs.

Oussama Abdullah Kassir, 43, who was extradited from the Czech Republic to New York in 2007, faces multiple charges, including supporting terrorism and al Qaeda, by attempting to set up the camp in Bly, Oregon from 1999 to early 2000.

Prosecutors say Kassir and two others involved in the case were followers of Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, a one-armed Muslim cleric who is serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for inciting his followers to murder nonbelievers...

April 12, 2009

The Wolves are Out

More evidence about unidetifiable Policemen in the comments of Sheepdogs and Wolves G20 post.

Look. The Police in London have been doing this for years. I have personally witnessed a Polceman punch someone in the face and gleefully point out that he had no means of indentification. That was some years ago now but nothing has changed. The mainstream media are finally picking it up because someone died. Great. Well done. Wake up. I have family members in the Police force so don't think I don't want things to be different. I do.

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THIS IS IN THE TIMES

from Rod Liddle:

I wonder what the next line of disinformation will be from the Metropolitan police over the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests 10 or so days ago. That they firmly believed the deceased to be Brazilian? That they have subsequently “discovered” a stash of kiddie porn in Tomlinson’s home – a ploy they tried out before, remember, when they were in a spot of trouble having shot an entirely innocent Muslim bloke at his home in Forest Gate, London?

You have to hand it to them: for an institution which seems to be run by serial incompetents and cretins, they are at least extraordinarily creative when it comes to telling porkie pies. At dissembling, obfuscating and smearing wholly innocent people whom they have egregiously wronged, either by shooting them or, in their less vigorous moments, just knocking them about a bit...

...The first statement from the Met came on the day of Tomlinson’s death, April 1; the Met reported sadly that they had come under attack from the protesters, being pelted with bottles, while they tried to help him.

Further, an ambulance was delayed in reaching the chap because protesters had deliberately blocked the way.

And then the witness statements emerged and, more crucially – because who would believe the word of one of those lentil-eating, unwashed anarcho-syndicalist hippies? – the filmed evidence. The police didn’t try to help Tomlinson at all; instead they twice attacked him, both with bare hands and with batons. It was instead the demonstrators who tried to help the man and were prevented from doing so largely by the police. Nor was it the demonstrators who stopped the ambulance getting through, but – it has since been revealed – a police cordon. There were no bottles; just medical students trying to help who were told to clear off by the plod.

Later the police story subtly shifted, to minimise the link between the now clear and unambiguous police attacks on Tomlinson and his death, moments later, from a heart attack. But again – inconveniently – the demonstrators came forward; as Tomlinson lay dying, he had blood on his face. There, then, is the link.

Liked a drink or two, Ian Tomlinson – between you and me, bit of an alkie, really, and not in the best of health. That’s the latest information which has appeared, mysteriously, in the press. Probably gave it a bit of lip, too – and, worse still, was seen knowingly and openly wearing a shirt supportive of Millwall football club. We rest our case, etc. Unfortunate, but nobody really to blame, certainly not the copper, doing his best in difficult circumstances.

There will be more to come. But it will all be undone because surely nobody, now, would believe the police’s version of events, not even one of those independent inquiries we get every so often to mollify public opinion. Not after the fabulous rubbish which the Met has come up with so far in order to evade the blame for Tomlinson’s death – or, while we’re at it, the stuff they initially came up with when Jean Charles de Menenez was shot by them. Or the desperate scrabbling around for an excuse or a smokescreen after they had shot Mohammed Abdul Kahar, in Forest Gate, for the crime of being in possession of a provocative beard and a copy of the Koran. Child pornography and loads of money underneath his bed – got to be a wrong ’un. All, as it turned out, lies...

April 09, 2009

EVIDENCE WASHES AWAY

from Brian Visiondanz on Facebook:

...A Bristol student due in court after he allegedly chalked slogans on a pavement in Broadmead shopping centre has been told the case has been dropped.

Paul Saville, 23, was due to appear before magistrates charged with causing criminal damage but was told there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute...

April 08, 2009

Now I know why these guys didn't want to make a film with me..

Gut feeling? I liked Mustafa and Mohssain. They have a fascinating untold story that I would really love to hear. What can I say? I'm glad they took up thieving from the rich rather than terrorism? They are obviously enterprising but maybe didn't have such a good start. I didn't really get to know either of them, Mohssain I only met the once and he didn't say a lot. So many young Muslims in London have a story of a boiling existance which careers between extreme, austere Islam and petty crime but for obvious reasons it is next to impossible to get it out of them.

I regret not sitting Atilla down away from Finsbury and speaking honestly to him rather than just pasively filming what he did and trying not to upset him. I feel the same about these two. Maybe worse because they are younger. Its pretty obvious from my blogging at the time I was in no position to sort my own shit out.

Three sons of hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza are facing jail after admitting taking part in a £1 million car ringing racket. The two-year plot targeted high value BMWs, Range Rovers and Mercedes that had been left for weeks in long-stay car parks.

Using false identities, conmen tricked the DVLA into diverting registration details from the real owners to a string of addresses. The fraudsters would then go to dealerships across London to claim the spare keys.

Hamza Kamel, 22, and Mohammed Mostafa, 27, who are sons of the former Finsbury Park Mosque imam, and his 28-year-old stepson Mohssin Ghailam, variously pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods, money laundering and fraud at Southwark Crown Court...

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TOMLINSON



G20 death is a sign of systemic problems in the police (Yahoo news)
Riot Police Officer Comes Forward (Times)
UPDATE:

April 06, 2009

Islamic Struggles in Scotland

via Andrew on pickledpolitics here

..."They've become so comfortable in their offices that they've ignored the social needs of their members, or are just so cut off that they don't even realise what's going on - street crime, gangs, burglaries, violence, drug abuse and dealing."

The old guard have been able to maintain the status quo by having sole control over who was selected to join the mosque management board, the young reformers' claim. On Thursday, talks between the two camps reached deadlock and two of the mosque's trustees, who normally remain neutral, backed reform. The president and secretary of the mosque will meet trustees next month to outline reforms.

Siddaqat Khan, 31, who negotiated for the reformers, said: "The older guys thought there was a threat to their kingdom. But society changes. The older generation are focused on being Pakistani, whereas we're focused on being British. That's where the clash happens. British society doesn't work by shutting itself off in a mosque."

According to Humza Yousaf, director of public affairs for the Scottish Islamic Foundation, breaking down the "gatekeeper mentality" of the older generation is essential for the long-term stability of the Muslim community.

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April 02, 2009

END OF CAPITALISM

No protest. For one, I support the Brazialian president in what he says about honkys with blue eyes. I was considering getting the devil mask out again, veteran of a hundred police photographs but I thought fuck it. There you are, kettling works. Good deterent. The bloody photographing doesn't. I don't give a shit about that, but kettling does. Anyway I don't agree that focus on Police tactics does anything to stop Capitalism. I am looking for different tactics.

A friend of mine who went yesterday in a suit with a box on his head actually got attacked by three capitalists in suits. Capitalist fight back! See if the Police stood back and let the hippies fight it out with the city boys things might be interesting!

The Police were banging on the door of some squat in the city all night and in the morning they bust in, smashed everything up and arrested everyone. I think they did the same at Ramparts Social Centre.

There have been mixed feeling amongst my friends about Russell Brand turning up at the protest. Personally I am glad he still comes. I think the guy is genuinely one of the freaks and he speaks about freakdom all the time. I thought it was also a great idea of his to bring bouncers. Why didn't we think of that before? If each protester hired three bouncers we could kettle the Police eh.

New Internationalist here
Metcountymounty (who "cleared the climate camp") here


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April 01, 2009

Check one two

OBAMA HENGE

! PRESS RELEASE AUTHORISED BY KING ARTHUR PENDRAGON - FOR IMMEDIATE USE !

An historical meeting will occur at an undisclosed time today at one of the worlds most prestigious monuments and World Heritage Site.

President Obama of the United States of America is visiting the UK for the G20 meeting and part of his UK tour includes visiting Stonehenge and meeting Senior Druid and Battle Chieftain, King Arthur Pendragon . Road diversions of the A303 may be expected for the duration of the meeting and the WHS may be closed to visitors but please contact the usual media and traffic centres for up to date information.

President Obama is 'intrigued and mightily impressed with King Arthur' who, in searing unshaded heat of last summer and the winter temperatures of 12 degrees below, has stoically carried out a vigil and protest, collecting signatures for his UNESCO Petition at the Stonehenge site for nine months. King Arthur fully intends to continue until the government and English Heritage announce the implementation of the long awaited project to address the neglect and shameful inaction to protect the temple/monument.

President Obama has every sympathy with King Arthur's protest and intends to discuss with him the ever growing petition with thousands of signatures from visitors across the world which will be presented to UNESCO, who have also raised their own deep concern at the neglect of Stonehenge and have even suggested removing the World Heritage Site status.

For contact please use the President's email facility

http://capwiz. com/politicsol/ mail/?id= 3181&lvl= F&chamber= P

http://www.whitehou se.gov/contact/

and King Arthur's contact details are: k.pendragon@yahoo.co.uk and/or 07840 277 812

Issued from King Arthur Pendragon's Press Office